Ichigo's Family
by Silver Pansy
Summary: What if Ichigo wasn't a 15 year old living with his dad and sisters, went to high school, and killed hollows? What if instead he was a 15 year old that had finally convinced his family of Hollows that a human should probably learn something about being human? More on the inside. AU(kind of) Rating may go up
1. Chapter 1

I needed something to cheer me up lately and I've had this idea messing with me every chance it got for a while now, so here is... something. The plot still eludes me at this point but I do have a basic idea of what I'm doing.

**Summary**(Kind of): Basically, Ichigo's known about shinigami, Hollows, and even his own heritage ever since his mother died. His father couldn't support the four of them by himself no matter how hard he tried and ended up sending Ichigo to Kisuke Urahara for him to raise. Urahara not being much of a parental figure in turn sent a nine year old Ichigo to be raised by his good friend Sosuke Aizen. Ichigo was quickly accepted into the makeshift family of Arrancar and shinigami.

Like I said, mostly stumped for an actual plot. This will probably turn into a collection set in the same universe so I'm open to plot ideas from anyone who actually decides to read this.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of it's characters. sigh~ if only...

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A small, black haired woman of just over 4'8" walked swiftly into a near empty classroom. It was undeniable that she was horribly early, much more so than usual, but then again, she usually wasn't free of a certain redheaded burden. Besides, there was absolutely no doubt in her mind that everyone of importance was already gathered and present. True to her assumption, seated together in a corner by the window was a small group of high school students that by all rights shouldn't have been sitting together making amiable conversation while waiting for the last member of said group.

Quickly taking her seat near the middle of the desk cluster, she suddenly grew more excited until her patients couldn't stand to wait any longer. Looking around her at her mismatched assembly of friends, she death glared them into a nigh instantaneous silence. There was just something about that look that could turn even the most fearless of men into cowering wimps.

The rather loud clearing of a throat dispelled the awkward silence that had fallen in place of the quiet conversation. All eyes turned to the origin of said noise and waited expectantly to here the redhead out.

"So, Rukia, anything interesting come up?" The way he said it did nothing to hide how rightfully nervous he was. Rukia Kuchiki was not a woman to be messed with.

Thankfully for him, it seemed to be the right question, if Rukia's pleased smile was anything to go by. "Why yes, Renji, something interesting did come up." After that she abandoned all semblance of formality in her speech, the excitement built up from keeping the news in boiling over. "We're getting a new student today," she nearly squeaked out.

In most schools that kind of news would have been common knowledge and nothing unique. However, Karakura High was not most schools and for whatever reason rarely saw a new face in any of higher years. That being the case, a new student was sure to incite some interest especially since he was arriving after classes had already started.

For a fleeting moment, doubt washed through the mind of one of the more distant members of the group. Uryu Ishida had been the last to officially join this circle of friends and even then he was still careful to keep his distance, and such as that was, he almost didn't believe Rukia's claim. All thoughts of disbelief vanished however, at the thought of the small raven's accuracy in the field of rumors. She seemed to have a particular talent at picking out what was true from what was false, even among things as fiction based as rumors. The others around had all known Rukia long enough to have belief in her words become almost instinct. When it came to finding and sharing the truth, she was never wrong.

Looking around at the mixture of stoic and stunned expressions, Rukia felt a certain amount of satisfaction. No matter how hard she looked, there was not even a hint of disbelief in any of their eyes, meaning she'd succeeded in creating a certain credibility for herself. While they were all processing the rare news of a new face, a random thought passed through her now less excited mind. Renji had gotten to school before her. Usually he slept until the last minute, impossible to wake up unless a certain level of urgency was present. It usually took one of the bizarre and sometimes painful looking devices of Kisuke Urahara, the man the two were staying with, to wake the redhead up. She had fortunately managed to convince Yasutora Sado, Chad for short, to let Renji stay at his place the night before.

Now, she was wondering how the large, silent, Mexican had gotten the redheaded pineapple up so early, not even Kisuke's heinous inventions were capable of that. At least, not the ones she'd seen. Considering that, Rukia wasn't sure she really wanted to know.

The raven was snapped out of her musings soon after by the first to finish processing the information. A girl of average height and hair a burnt orange color asked from between Chad and Uryu, "Is the new student going to be in our class?"

"Yes Orihime, he's going to be in our class," Rukia replied, a little giddy at being one of the first to meet the new student.

"Wait, he? Just how much do you know about this guy?" Uryu questioned, pushing up his glasses a bit in slight annoyance.

The short raven grew a sly smirk, immediately putting all of the gathered on edge and sending shivers down the backs of students that were slowly beginning to trickle in. "That, Quincy-boy, is for me to know and you to find out."

With that, all questions died in mind as everyone silently agreed they were safer learning about this new student elsewhere. Uryu didn't even sniff in indignation at the utterance of 'Quincy-boy', too preoccupied with wanting to stay the hell away from Rukia and her evil intentions.

The classroom fell into a comfortable silence, the low thrum of conversation constantly in the background. After some time, the bell to start class wasn't to far off and the teacher, Ochi-sensei, was still noticeably missing. There were, of course, mountains of rumors that had already started as to why that could be, ranging from something as simple as there was a substitute who had gotten lost to as conspiratorial as Ochi-sensei being part of a secret terrorist organization plotting the downfall of Japan and was absent because she was drawing up new conquest plans. Who knows, scary stuff happens to high school kids.

Only Rukia and those few others she had told had even the semblance of an idea. Obviously she was occupied with something about the new student and it filled Rukia with a slight sense of smug satisfaction that she was the first student to know of the news. Right on time, the bell rung and in walked Ochi-sensei, followed by the new student.

Now, a new student was enough to cause gasps of shock to fly past the lips of unsuspecting students, so just take a moment to imagine what might have happened when a tall guy, around 5'9", walked in with a lithe yet strong build and spiky orange hair. Instant fangirl squeals were heard around the classroom, only serving to give some of the more aggressive guys a reason to pick on him, besides the hair of course. But none of that was really of any consequence or even given any thought at all. What immediately caught the attention of every spiritually aware being in the room was a profound sense of something _wrong_. Something was off, and while one would peg it on the new presence in the room, there was absolutely no proof that it had anything to do with him.

This feeling was distinctly Hollow, but then again not exactly. First of all, it was coming from all around and it simply wasn't possible for it to be pinpointed on the boy standing at the front of the room. Secondly, even if he was a Hollow, why wasn't he a mindless, soul-eating monster? And how did he get his hands on a gigai? Assuming he really was a Hollow. There was nothing to indicate that there was even such a being within miles of the school except the strange feeling coming from an unknown origin.

Ochi-sensei quickly introduced him as Ichigo Kurosaki and sent him to sit in the only empty seat behind Uryu and to the left of some kid called Keigo. As soon as he sat down, all traces of that disturbing reiatsu disappeared. Those that had been aware of it instantly relaxed, relieved that whatever had been causing it was gone or at least didn't mean any immediate harm.

Classes passed quietly enough. Ichigo was quiet throughout and didn't say much, but that was more than likely because he spent all the time he could have been talking observing others' behavior and reactions to certain things. He called out a few times in the beginning, earning him a few harsh glares from Ochi-sensei, but quickly learned through his observations that he was supposed to raise his hand first then wait to be called on. Throughout the day, it became more and more obvious Ichigo had no idea what was going on. That either meant the school he'd come from had completely different workings, or he'd never been to school before. The latter option seemed almost ridiculous, but how else was his complete lack of social knowledge explainable? Ichigo did seem to be a fast learner though and quickly picked up on the basic rules and expectations.

By the time lunch rolled around Ichigo had mostly gotten settled into his new school and Rukia and Orihime were practically trampling people in their quest to invite Ichigo into their lunch group. At first Renji and Uryu objected, but were forced to accept between Chad's tie breaking vote, Orihime's enthusiasm, and Rukia's thre— logic.

When the two made it to where the orangette was shrugging his bag over his shoulder, Orihime was fidgeting and blushing too much to form even a single coherent sentence. Wow, only a day and already Orihime's developed a crush. That left it up to Rukia to ask.

"Hey, Ichigo, right?" she asked, though she already knew the answer was yes.

He nodded in confirmation, waiting patiently for her to continue.

"Wanna come eat lunch with us?"

The orangette seemed to think about it for a bit, taking the pause to shift slightly in nervous habit until finally, "Yeah, sure."

Rukia beamed at him, pleased with his answer, she didn't having anything to blackmail him with yet, she'd have to work on that. Orihime only seemed to get worse at his acceptance, stuttering violently trying to but words to a feeling she couldn't describe until she all but passed out.

"Hey, is your friend okay?" Ichigo asked concernedly, looking at Orihime's bright red face and nigh hyperventilating breaths.

"Oh she's fine," Rukia's reply held no concern at all as she steered Orihime toward the rest of their friends, Ichigo trailing behind her, still concerned about the girl's wellbeing.

In their usual rooftop lunch spot, they all ate and talked as usual but also took time to get to know Ichigo better, and in turn Ichigo found more out about them. Talking to Ichigo was weird though. All his answers were as vague as he could make them and could almost be considered lying. Almost. By the time lunch ended they found out he'd moved here from somewhere very far away, although no one had managed to pry out of him exactly where, and that his hair was, indeed, natural. Surprisingly that question came from a guy with naturally crimson hair, which in turn caused Ichigo to start a yelling match with a now thoroughly irritated pineapple. It was about to turn physical when Rukia's phone went off and Renji went running back into the building, yelling something that sounded vaguely like 'bathroom' back as an explanation.

Ichigo called after him, using coward to get the pineapple riled up. He succeeded in making Renji even angrier than he already had been, if that was even possible, but not in bringing him back. Instead Renji took all his anger out on some poor unfortunate Hollow who, even through the haze of hunger and instinct, was wishing it had never chosen to leave Hueco Mundo that particular day. The redhead hadn't even taken his zanpakuto out of its sheath until the very end. He took all his anger and frustration out on the Hollow, only using his swords cutting edge to send it to soul society when he felt calm again. I believe it's quite safe to assume that even if that spirit lost all its memories, it would always carry an unconscious fear of redheads.

Back at the school on the way back to class, Ichigo had a deep scowl plastered on his face. It was one of irritation and confusion, which stayed until he finally asked to no one in particular, "What's up with Renji? I know he didn't really have to go to the bathroom."

The group of four shared a few quick, nervous glances, silently trying to come up with an acceptable answer between them that didn't involve revealing they killed soul-eating ghost monsters for a living.

"Something private probably came up," Chad provided. His calm voice and unwavering confidence made it impossible to tell whether he was lying or not. Ichigo still didn't seem to believe him but was nice enough not to push any further. He'd only just met them, they didn't have to tell him anything and he respected their privacy.

Renji came rushing up to them not long after looking satisfied and a great deal calmer than when he had left. That gained him several surprised and suspicious looks from his friends. How had Renji calmed himself down so fast? All he'd done was purify a Hollow. Ichigo didn't even take notice, not having known Renji long enough to know something was strange about his now calm demeanor. So as the group of now six people neared their classroom the oddity was forgiven and forgotten, pushed to the back of the mind for more interesting conversation.

The rest of the day passed without incident, the number of Hollows had even been surprisingly low until inevitably the last bell of the day rang. Ichigo walked out of the school building with his new group of almost friends, he didn't know them well enough to call them real friends, feeling quite content and almost happy. He'd learned a good deal about school life but he knew he still more to learn. The orangette gave a small smile. It had been a good idea, convincing his family he needed to go to a proper school. Home schooling was fun, but sometimes his family was just a bit too _them _for a regular high school education.

Meeting and hanging out with Ichigo had been fun. It was nice to have a friend that didn't know about anything spirit related and Rukia was thanking whatever ever higher power there was out there for this chance she'd been given. And just as she was enjoying the relatively quiet day her phone went off. A relatively weak reiatsu appeared not too far from their location so Uryu turned down a street, manifested his bow, and killed the Hollow in a single shot. Normally he wouldn't have even bothered turning down the street, he could have hit it from where he was earlier, but it would look weird to Ichigo if he went through the motions with seemingly nothing. He continued down the street he was on, taking a different route to his home.

Rukia looked over to Ichigo; a little envious that he didn't have to worry about any of this stuff. What she saw nearly gave her a heart attack that she couldn't seem to convince herself was irrational. Ichigo had stopped walking in order to turn and stare at something. That's strange enough as it is, but he was looking right in the direction the Hollow had been in.

Calming her racing heart, Rukia asked, "Hey Ichigo, something wrong?"

"Huh?" he shook his head to regain focus before properly replying, "No, no I'm fine, I just thought I heard something; must have been my imagination."

Ichigo started walking again, to him there'd been nothing wrong, just a momentary lapse in focus. To Rukia however, something was seriously off. Her mind was racing a mile a minute and she couldn't calm down now matter what she told herself. Thoughts like 'Could he have heard the Hollow' and 'What if hanging out with us gets him involved' continued to effectively push out all attempts to ease her raging mind. In the end she pushed everything to the back of her mind along with Renji's concerned attempts to get her attention, and followed him the rest of the way back to the Urahara Shoten.

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Thanks for reading and hoped you liked.

Open to reviews, criticism, and comments.


	2. Chapter 2

I had lots of fun writing this, that's probably why it came out so quickly, but anyway I don't really know the terminology that well so if I get any of it wrong here or in the future just tell me. Okay, now I've got something important I- *suddenly passes out*

Pansy: *hides can of knock out gas* Muhahahaha. Due to unknown reasons Silver is unable to continue the author's note so... *Looks at notes* She doesn't own Bleach or any of its characters, and enjoy.

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Ichigo was lost in thought as he walked the rest of the way by himself to the large house he shared with the rest of his family. Chad and Orihime had broken off from the group to get to their homes early on, Uryu had left after he killed the Hollow, and the orangette had left Rukia and Renji on their own not long after that. He had to sort through the new things he'd just learned about his almost friends. First of all, he'd known all of them had at least some reiatsu to speak of the moment he'd met them, but he hadn't expected it to amount to anything truly powerful in the end, Uryu being a Quincy through a whole new light on things. Did that mean the others were Quincy as well or were they something else?

Ichigo had never been great at sensing reiatsu but he'd spent enough time around Hollows that he could at least sense the ones that had appeared during school. He had already grown suspicious of what the five of them really were when they alternately left class whenever one appeared, but he had been unable to make any sense of it with his severely underwhelming achievements in reiatsu detection. Now that he'd been close enough to feel the Uryu was a Quincy it shed some light on some of his questions, but also gave birth to new ones.

The orangette was so preoccupied with his thoughts he didn't even notice that he'd already made it home until he ran face first into the door. Stumbling back with a soft grunt more in surprise than pain, Ichigo vaguely heard the door immediately open and didn't even have time to be see who had opened it when a hand wrapped around one of his arms and yanked him inside. Shaking his head slightly to clear it, Ichigo finally had the chance to look at his attacker. The first thing he noticed was the flash of straight pink hair that fell down to his attacker's chin, a bit hanging in his face over the white rimmed glasses.

At that point it was immediately obvious who this man was and Ichigo made sure to voice his irritation, "Szayel, what are you doing?"

"Shh," the man immediately shushed him, looking around the room the front door led to. "Everyone's asleep right now so we have to hurry."

Ichigo groaned softly. He didn't really want to be a part of whatever heinous experiment or material collecting expedition Szayel was going on, but if he was willing face to Grimmjow, Nnoitra, and (God forbid) Ulquiorra's wrath for the sake of it, it must be really important to him. If there was one thing Ichigo hated doing it was letting his family down.

"Fine," he whispered, "But never again Szayel, never again." Of course that wasn't true. If Szayel really wanted him to he would get involved again.

An almost insane grin spread across Szayel's lips at Ichigo's acceptance and he pulled the reluctant orangette carefully through the house down to the basement. Normally, that grin of Szayel's spelled pain and suffering for all who it was directed at, but Ichigo was one of the few that was safe around that smile. Even if the orangette hadn't been able to completely obliterate the scientist and his bubble gum hair, Szayel liked him too much to perform even his more mundane experiments on.

When the two finally made it to the already open door leading down to a place of no return, Ichigo realized how much Szayel really wanted whatever he was after. The man never left his lab in a state where others could access it without him. But this time, he'd been afraid of the door squeaking and waking someone up, this coming from the man who checked the hinges even when there wasn't a remotely possible chance that hinges could get squeaky three days after they were last oiled.

Szayel pulled Ichigo down a few of the stairs before quickly sealing it with a high level Bakudo. The two descended the rest of the stairs into the somewhat messy room Szayel had claimed as his lab. It was already well lit, though some areas more than others. Ichigo took a quick look around, taking in what he could from the multiple computers buried in piles of calculations to the operating table resting ominously in the center of the room. He'd never been in Szayel's lab more than a few times, this being his first time in this particular one, but it never ceased to amaze him just how well the pink haired Arrancar could hide exactly what went on in his death trap of a room.

Szayel ended up leading him to the back of the basement where he told a confused and slightly curious Ichigo to wait a moment. The scientist knocked on the wall a few times, seemingly to listen for something when suddenly the patch of wall he'd been knocking slid aside to reveal a secret back room to the basement with nothing but a single overhead light, hanging over an operating table. An occupied operating table. On said table was a middle woman with straight black hair, an unadulterated look of pure terror in her dark eyes as she tried to scream for help the moment the secret door opened. But that was probably the reason she'd been strapped down and gagged.

Quickly shutting the door, Szayel walked around to the other side of the table and smiled his slightly insane grin at Ichigo before asking, "Well, want to help?"

Ichigo's right eye twitched, "Szayel, you know Ulquiorra's going to kill you when he finds out, right?" His voice was surprisingly calm as he asked that, not quite sure what to make of the situation.

The scientists face fell, his expression turned pleading and he nearly begged, "That's why they're all sleeping. Please Ichigo, the opportunity was just too good to pass up, she could _see _me, and she's nothing but human. Besides, if we're careful and quiet no one's going to find out."

Ichigo stood there in silence for a while, taking much longer to decide what to do with this than he had when he agreed to follow Szayel down to the basement in the first place. His first option was to help Szayel. His relationship with the scientist would get better and it might be fun, but if they did get caught, someone was going to tell Ulquiorra and he didn't want to be even remotely connected to Szayel's plot when that bomb exploded. His second option was to tell Ulquiorra, he might be sparred from the unholy wrath that followed, but Szayel might end up dead or worse. Of course, there was always the option of not helping Szayel and not telling Ulquiorra, but who knew how that would turn out. So instead he chose the only option that seemed safe.

"Szayel," he sighed, "I'd rather not be any where near here when the bomb goes off but I'm not going to tell Ulquiorra either. Just do yourself a favor and let her go, I'd rather not have mysteriously disappear."

Szayel sighed too, except instead of exasperation and mild frustration, his was one of disappointment and had an overall downtrodden air to it. "Thanks for your concern, Ichigo, but I was really hoping…" the sentence trailed off, lying open in the air, though the intention and meaning had no need to be spoken anyway.

That look nearly did Ichigo in, he hated letting his family down, but this time it was a harder decision to make. He could either stick with his conviction and disappoint the pink haired scientist, or he could help him and disappoint Ulquiorra. The orangette paled a bit. Yeah, this decision wasn't hard, though it still left a sour taste in his mouth.

"I'm really, really sorry Szayel," and he was, "but you know as well as I do how scary Ulquiorra is when he's mad."

Szayel paled a bit at the thought a well before sighing out, "Yeah, sorry for asking this of you, Ichi, and thanks for not telling him."

"No problem, Szay," Ichigo replied with just a slight smile.

Ichigo went back upstairs quickly, the particular Bakudo Szayel used making it so on could leave but not enter. He snuck quickly up the stairs to his room, separated his soul from his body and lying it carefully down on the bed before sneaking off to where he'd seen Grimmjow out cold in the hallway.

Ichigo's soul form looked exactly like his body did except he was wearing the standard Espada uniform of a white jacket with black trim and a white hakama. The jacket's collar was upturned, the sleeves long enough to cover his arms up to the wrists. On his face sat a complete Hollow mask with two, thick black lines running vertically from top to bottom, one through each eye. His eyes had also changed from a warm honey brown to an unnatural gold on black. Spending almost half of his life with Hollows, it was like second nature for Ichigo to where his mask all the time.

As he silently made his way down the hall to a passed out Grimmjow, he quickly took note of the familiar weight of Zangetsu on his back before pushing his mask up to rest on top of his orange tresses. This was probably going to end badly but he didn't want to skulk through the house looking for everyone. He could also feel that Szayel had come up from his lab and had wandered into the kitchen. With that confirmed, he moved until he was crouched down next to Grimmjow on the side closest to the stairs. Straightening up a little, he unsheathed his zanpakuto and swiftly brought it down, promptly stabbing Grimmjow hard in the back of the head with the hilt of his sword. He was moving immediately, sonido'ing down the stairs and into the kitchen with Szayel, Zangetsu replaced on his back just as Grimmjow cursed, loudly.

There was only one person that could have slept through that but he was always sleeping anyway. So as predicted, everyone woke up to the profanities of an extremely irritated panther Hollow, who had sonido'd down to the kitchen after being knocked rather painfully from his gigai. What he found there was an orangette drinking a glass of apple juice and a man with pink hair munching on a turkey sandwich, sword strapped to hip.

"Which one of you was it?" Grimmjow questioned, pointing a suspicious finger at the both of them.

Ichigo looked up, a slightly concerned expression on his face that all but screamed innocent. "Are you okay Grimm?" he answered back with a question, "You sounded like you got hurt."

Grimmjow was a bit taken aback at his concern. Hitting him in the head was something Ichigo would do, but them why would he be concerned if he was the one that did it? Szayel had a sly grin plastered on his face, but then again he almost always did when it came to Grimmjow's pain, whether he was the cause or not.

Unfortunately, there was nothing Grimmjow could do if he couldn't even decide himself who'd hit him, so instead he answered, "Tch, yeah I'm fine, just a bit surprised is all." With that he stuffed his hands in his pockets and stalked out of the kitchen, muttering under his breath about insufferable strawberries and bubble gum.

After the blunette was out of earshot the two burst out laughing. "Well, if I can't experiment, might as well torture Grimm," Szayel stated between gulps of air.

Ichigo agreed with a quick nod of his head, still too out of breath for a proper answer.

The two had just managed o get their breathing under control again when surprisingly enough, Starrk dragged himself into the kitchen, stretching and yawning as he rummaged through the fridge for something edible.

"Hey Starrk," Ichigo greeted, setting down his empty glass. "I could put on a pot of coffee for you if you want."

"No, thanks," he yawned again, closing the fridge and walking to the table with his spoils. "I was just a little hungry," he explained before taking a bite out of the apple he pillaged.

Szayel finished his sandwich not long after and disappeared, presumably back to his lab, and Ichigo decided it wouldn't to any good to just sit around in the kitchen.

"Hey Starrk, is it okay if I go explore the town a bit?"

The brunette nodded his consent and Ichigo was on his way. The hierarchy of their family was kind of strange but not too complicated. True to Hollow instinct, Starrk was officially in charge of everything that happened within the family. If you got permission from him to do something no one had the authority to tell you otherwise. However, since Starrk was more often asleep than awake, the next in command should have been Harribel, except she couldn't have cared less what anyone did as long as they left her alone. She didn't want everyone coming to her with their requests and problems so the power was passed even farther along down to Ulquiorra who actually took his job very seriously. In actuality, Ichigo could have easily been the strongest out of all of them, but he was the newest member to their messed up family and wanted more time to figure things out before he even got close to touching the position of leader.

Practically jumping up the stairs Ichigo stopped to give Grimmjow a hand dragging his gigai into the blunette's room before making a beeline for his. Slipping into his body, the orangette sprinted back down the stairs and out the door, just barely catching Starrk's shout of "Don't stay out too late."

He didn't slow down until he was down the street and disappearing into the crowd. It'd been a long time since he'd been in Karakura but if the message Urahara had sent them before they'd moved into the world of the living had any truth to it his father should still be living at the clinic. Walking down a familiar street with unfamiliar buildings, he finally spotted the one he was looking for. It was a small doctor's clinic attached to a home, the sign the clinic sported agreeing with his memory that this was indeed his old house.

Anxious feelings bubbled up in him as he approached the front door, but he pushed them down and knocked on the door. A smile stretched across his face when the opened door revealed Yuzu Kurosaki's shocked one.

"Hey Yuzu," he said softly, "I'm home."

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Silver: *bashes Pansy over the head with a can of knock out gas* well, I was going to say, before I was so rudely interrupted *Glares at Pansy* that Pansy was going to be joining me in the author's notes

Pansy: I am! You can't keep me out of them. So anyway, revi- *passes out*

Silver: *grins maniacally* paybacks a b****, huh Pansy. Review, comment, and hopefully the new chapter will be up soon.


	3. Chapter 3

Silver: Sorry this took so long, I lost my meds and couldn't focus long enough to finish this quickly.

Pansy: You didn't lose them, you just kept forgetting to take them.

Silver: Isn't it the same thing? And if you knew then why didn't you remind me?

Pansy: *sighs* I did, I just didn't find out until recently. Really, sometimes I feel like I'm taking care of a little kid.

Silver: Waaahhhh! Pansy that's mean.

Pansy: *groans* Whatever. Silver doesn't own Bleach or any of it's characters. Hopefully she'll have calmed down by time this is over.

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"Hey Yuzu," he said softly, "I'm home."

The poor girl literally stood there shocked for a moment. And then she threw herself into the arms of the older brother she hadn't seen in six years, crying her eyes out begging him never to leave so suddenly again. The commotion at the front door inevitably drew the attention of the other two members of the household, and soon Ichigo was dragged inside, the door just managing to be shut. Isshin, who normally would already be sprawled on the ground from a well placed kick by Karin, was allowed to join the reunion. Karin even allowed herself to take part in the hug Yuzu had started, though she didn't cry. Ichigo returned the affection to his family just as enthusiastically. He loved his sisters and father more than anything and that night he'd been forced to part with them was the hardest thing he'd ever done.

Isshin had tried to support his family of four the best that he could, but no matter what it had never been enough. After several months of trying, he'd eventually forced himself to realize he had to start doing something different if he wanted his kids to grow up normally, or, at least as normal as things could get for a family that had recently lost a member. He'd gone through every option he had with jobs, going so far as to work multiple and run the clinic late into the night. He'd thrown away some pride and accepted compensation from sympathetic neighbors and friends. None of it was working and he was running out of options.

The single father's thoughts had kept straying back to one option, one that he stubbornly forced to the back of his mind every time it surfaced. If he couldn't support three children, maybe he could try again with just two. But that was the one thing he wouldn't -couldn't- do. The former shinigami captain loved his children more than anything; they were all he had left. There was no way he could give one away, but again, that nagging voice in the back of his head, the one telling him that it was the only option left for him was persistent and it made a good argument.

The next grueling dilemma was which one. He hated how calmly he was thinking of this possibility, these were his children, how could he give any of them to some one else. But again, there was that voice of reason in the back of his mind, saying once again it was the only option, and then it made a convincing point. The child that left wouldn't have died, he'd only be staying with someone else for a while, he refused to think of just how long. Isshin quickly became horrified with himself. Without even realizing, he'd somehow started thinking the child that couldn't stay was Ichigo, and that made the most sense.

Ichigo was old enough that he wouldn't forget his first family if he went to stay with another, the twins were just that, twins, they couldn't be separated, and Ichigo undoubtedly carried most if not all of his parents' spiritual potential. He'd have to learn about his heritage sooner or later, and if he learned it sooner the young orangette would have that much more time to accept it. He even knew the perfect person to raise a kid like his…

Over the course of another few weeks, he'd told Ichigo every thing he knew about who and what the boy was. Predictably Ichigo hadn't taken the extra information well, which had led to it being broken up over so long a period of time. Eventually though, Ichigo learned and accepted everything, already being able to see ghosts helped immensely, and then came the time Isshin had to break the news of his decision. To say that Ichigo took it horribly would be an understatement. He'd just been told he would lose the rest of his family not long after he'd lost his mother. To his nine year old mind, it seemed like he would never be able to see them again, and that was more than he was able to handle. Needless to say he broke down into sobbing mess, his mind coming up with all sorts of reasons as to why and what might happen.

Isshin fortunately managed to calm his son down after carefully explaining his reasons, Ichigo finally breaking on it'll be better for your sisters. In the end it was agreed that they wouldn't tell Karin and Yuzu, the two were much too young to understand what their father was thinking when he sent away their older brother.

A few days after he'd said all he needed to, he brought Ichigo to an old friend of his, this man could take care of his son, at least in terms of putting food on the table and he'd also be able to help Ichigo discover his abilities. The boy had still cried all the way to the Urahara Shoten, but at least he understood why it was necessary. Hopefully sometime in the near future he'd be able to come and visit.

Ichigo had only been living with Urahara for a few weeks and already it was becoming apparent that the exiled shinigami captain was not a man ready for raising children. How Ururu and Jinta made it so far was beyond anyone who knew the man. Ichigo had settled in well, he could still see his father and sisters almost whenever he wanted and he started some basic training with Urahara. By the time Urahara finally cracked under the responsibility he had already consulted with Isshin about moving Ichigo elsewhere, the father wouldn't appreciate the sudden disappearance of his son after all.

In the end, Urahara finally convinced his old friend that giving Ichigo to a certain someone would be the best option. When the two went about setting up the exchange, it was surprisingly easy to get the new guardian to agree. Probably because Ichigo was so unique as whatever he was. Convincing Ichigo though, they knew would be nothing short of impossible. Not being able to see his sisters would seem like the end to him and nothing would pacify him except not going through with the move. So instead, they did the unthinkable. The two kept it from the nine year old and pulled him through the Garganta Urahara created when it was finally finished.

Needless to say, when Ichigo woke up in a strange place with a strange man sitting by the strange bed he was sleeping in, he didn't take it well. Over time however he got used to it and almost accepted his predicament. Not knowing his father had helped pull this off probably helped too. Adjusting wasn't as easy as it could have been though; a few members of the Arrancar Aizen kept close not approving of him. Nel had taken a liking to him right away, probably because he was closest to her in age, and Ulquiorra, well it was impossible to tell what Ulquiorra thought. Aizen said Ichigo was staying and Ulquiorra supported that, whether or not he actually wanted the human child there or not.

Others, like Starrk and Harribel honestly had no opinion on him, they didn't particularly like him but he never bothered them. The remaining three were problematic for there own reasons. Grimmjow and Nnoitra just didn't like the idea of a kid running around, and Szayelaporro had taken an unhealthy interest in him. Unhealthy for Ichigo, mind you, an interest for Szayel involves cutting it open and seeing how it works. Aizen and Gin traded off looking after him, though there were times when it was simply impossible for either of them to shirk their duties as captains. In those times, either Ulquiorra or Starrk looked after him.

The first few times the young orangette was placed with Ulquiorra all he did was trail after him, the stoic Arrancar doing nothing more than keeping him out of harms way. The boy quickly grew on Ulquiorra however, or maybe having a silent shadow just got annoying, and he started talking to him. Staying with Starrk was easy from the start, his visits to the sleepy brunette mostly consisting of playing games with Nel and Lilynette.

Even as he got older he still maintained a close connection with Nel, but it also became easier to get along with the other three that originally Ichigo had avoided at all costs. Nnoitra and Grimmjow were mostly after the same thing, so after Ichigo became what the both of them deemed a worthy sparring partner the three started getting along better. Szayel was a bit harder though because what he wanted wasn't something Ichigo would give, at least not without serious doubt and regret. Their relationship did seem to improve with time, however. Ichigo agreed to let Szayel run some more mundane experiments on him, like testing the extent of his strength and abilities. Through those experiments the two got to know each other better until, surprisingly, the pink haired scientist decided he liked Ichigo too much to experiment on him.

Life had continued like that for some time until Ichigo turned fifteen. At that point, over the course of many, many months, he finally convinced Aizen to let them move to the human world, explaining that it would be a good experience for some of the Arrancar as well as him.

That brought the timeline back to near present. They'd set everything up with the help of Urahara and then finally had moved from Las Noches in Hueco Mundo to Karakura, Japan only a week before present time. They'd spent most of that week exploring and setting up the ground floor and their rooms which left Ichigo to wonder when Szayel had found the time and means to claim the basement as his lab. But by the end of the week everything had been settled and the unusual family moved into their new home and gigai, Ichigo had started his first day at the high school and was currently in the middle of a very emotional yet happy reunion with the biological family he'd missed for six years.

Back in the present time, everyone had finally calmed down enough to stop crying, though there was the occasional sniffle from Yuzu. There was really nothing to say. All the family of four needed was the comforting presence of a long lost member within arms reach to know everything was as it should be again. All that was really needed was time to enjoy the moment.

After the moment, Yuzu asked, "Ichi-nii, are you going to stay for dinner?" It seemed like an innocent enough question, but the unspoken meaning was clear, 'Are you going to leave again?'

For a moment, all she received was a sad smile, but then Ichigo replied, "I'm sorry Yuzu, but I can't. How about I ask and then next time you, Karin and Dad might be able to have dinner with me and the people who have been taking care of me?"

Smiling, she agreed happily, her answer applying to Karin as well. His father a bit more reluctant, unsure whether it was really a good idea to let his daughters, who had so little knowledge of the spiritual, to be so close to so many powerful Hollows. However, if Ichigo suggested it, that meant he had complete faith that his other family would cause no harm at all to his precious sisters. Slowly, and maybe somewhat reluctantly, he agreed as well.

"Alright," Ichigo confirmed cheerfully, "I'll go see when everyone's free."

He left soon after, going straight home as the setting sun stained the horizon deep shades of orange, red, and pink. Ichigo was excited, how could he not be? After six long years he had finally been reunited with his father and sisters, but now he was presented with a dilemma. There was no telling how long his not so new family would be able to stay in the world of the living without attracting too much attention to them. If the shinigami found them they'd have too leave right away, Aizen was not quite ready to reveal his children to the Soul Society yet, and therein lay Ichigo's problem. He'd not only known his original family for longer but some of his best memories lay there as well, but he had also come to truly love and care for his adopted family, sharing equally unforgettable moments with them. So who did he chose? When the Soul Society came, and they surely would, did he go to his first family and live a normal happy life, or did he stay by his adopted family and risk never seeing his sisters and father again?

There were too many variables in those questions, too many ways for things to change. So when Ichigo finally made it back to his current home, cutting the time until dinner immeasurably close, he had predictably not yet found an answer. In place of one, he had made a pact with himself to enjoy whatever time he did have with both of his families. He'd choose which bridge to cross when he got there.

"Itsygo!" a little green ball yelled as it came flying at him as soon as he closed the door. "Where were you? Nel thought you were gonna miss dinner."

'Itsygo' chuckled; leave it to Nel to nail him right as he walked through the door. "I just went for a walk, Nel. You know I wouldn't miss dinner." The next part he whispered, though he knew it wouldn't help he would still be forgiven if he played this off as entertaining Nel, "Wouldn't want Ulqui-bat getting mad now would we?"

Nel burst out laughing at Ulquiorra's hated nickname. Both she and Ichigo had come up with it after it became clear Ichigo couldn't say the undeniably bat-like Arrancar's entire name without some sort of mispronunciation at such a young age. He'd let it slide at the time, though grudgingly because it made sense. Now it was just degrading, but it seemed to keep Nel happy and no one else called him that so Ulquiorra did his best to ignore it.

Ichigo walked farther into the house, Nel taking her usual place hanging off of his shoulder. He went straight to the kitchen, now doubly aware of how late he had gotten home. As he entered the room, he took note of Starrk finishing up whatever he was making for dinner, Lilynette complaining that he never stays awake so long when it comes to spending time with her.

"Hey, Starrk, I'm home," Ichigo greeted briefly, more for common courtesy than the actual need to do so. Starrk had more than likely felt him as soon as he'd walked through the front door.

The others were scattered around the ground floor, all of them knowing better than to disappear elsewhere. Dinner had even managed to drag Szayel away from whatever godforsaken experiments he performed in the basement. Surprisingly enough, it was Starrk that set the 'everyone has dinner together' rule, making it one of the only things that could not only drag the Arrancar out of his room, but keep him awake for more than a few minutes.

Ichigo set Nel down, telling her Grimmjow seemed kind of lonely, and watched to make sure she wouldn't come back before helping Starrk set the now finished food out. Dinner was officially called only a few minutes later and everyone sat down around the rather large table, many still wondering how Starrk had found the energy to cook an entire meal.

Unfortunately, Ichigo still had to ask his question. There wasn't anyway not to since he'd told Yuzu he would, and there was no way he'd be able to lie to her. "Um…" he started awkwardly, not sure how to progress. Understandably Ichigo was nervous to have his Hollow family so close to his biological family, not because he was afraid someone would get hurt, but because he wasn't sure how they would react to each other. There was no need to worry about those like Starrk, Harribel, or Ulquiorra. At least those three knew what polite looked like. The worse Nel could do was be overly energetic, as long as she really tried to behave there was nothing to worry about from her. The others were a problem however. Being more volatile, crude, and in Szayel's case, less stable than most certainly made it more difficult to bring them out into public.

The orangette continued slowly, thinking things out even as he talked, "Today, I went to visit my first family."

That immediately got everyone's attention. They'd all known Ichigo had a family in the human world, but none had ever figured out where.

Everyone was silent, waiting for the orangette to elaborate. "I was wondering if you guys might like to have dinner with them some time. You know, get to know them a little?" The last part came out as a question, Ichigo still not sure if offering it was a good idea.

The silence that followed was anything but reassuring. If anything, the lack of noise caused Ichigo's doubt to fester until it took all of his willpower to sit there calmly and not claw his own eyes out.

Starrk finally broke that silence, unknowingly saving Ichigo from throwing himself off the cliff of sanity, "That would be nice. Do you have a specific time in mind?" His answer stood for all of them, no one daring to defy his decision.

Ichigo exhaled almost audibly, the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding almost deafeningly loud in the once again silent room. The orangette was immeasurably relieved; one simple question had never seemed so stressful before.

Dinner continued as usual with that, albeit with less chatter than normal, everyone wrapped in their own thoughts of this new and rather sudden plan. Just from Ichigo's reactions anyone with half a brain could discern that the success of this sudden development was the most important thing to him. That in itself was enough to create some surprising determination. Everyone was determined to not let Ichigo down; his happiness linked directly to the happiness of the entire household after all.

Dinner was finished quickly and everyone scattered to their own various spaces, leaving Ichigo and Ulquiorra to take care of the dishes while Nel did her best not to bother them from her reclaimed place on Ichigo's shoulders. After all the necessary chores were finished, the whole of the family sat down to set a date for the only activity they'd actually preset.

* * *

Pansy: Silver, come back here with my chocolate!

Silver: No, it's mine now. *shoves the rest of Pansy's chocolate into her mouth*

Pansy: No don't- *groans* You're going to make your throat all scratchy.

Silver: No I'm- *coughs* water.

Pansy: Told you so. Anyway, review, comment, point out inconsistencies, and hopefully I can keep her focused enough to write a new chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

Silver:*takes a big breath* I have nothing to say. Okay that's a lie, this chapter turned out much better than the last one so I'm happy. Other than that there's nothing.

Pansy: You are surprisingly mellow today. I already know the answer but I'll ask anyway: What is wrong with your head?

Silver: hehe, you do know the answer, but I'll give you one anyway: EVERYTHING

Pansy: ugh, she doesn't own Bleach or any of its characters

Silver: Enjoy

* * *

Luckily, Ichigo's first day of school had landed on a Friday, leaving him the entirety of the weekend to sort out a suitable time with his biological family for a decent dinner. In the end, they decided to host the get-together at the Kurosaki's, Isshin's reasoning being Ichigo hadn't spent any real quality time at that house in six years. Of course there was some ulterior reasoning underneath that, but Isshin wasn't willing to talk and Ichigo wasn't willing to pry into something of little importance. None of the Arrancar had any plans; the only thing really required of them was to report to Aizen if something interesting or bothersome appeared, so they were free for whenever the Kurosaki's were.

Unfortunately, Isshin had a prior engagement out of town for a few days and Yuzu wanted some more time after that to think of and prepare a meal. Therefore, the date for the dinner was set the following Friday, giving everyone enough to stress, worry, and think until then.

After everything was settled it was already Monday again, Ichigo's screeching alarm clock blaring the annoying truth in the orangette's ear. There were two reasons he had chosen that alarm when presented with the choice. The first was that it did its job and woke him up, and the second was that most of the Arrancar in the house were animal based with extremely sensitive hearing. It was soon discovered however that Ulquiorra was up with the sun, already too alert to be affected by the sudden noise and Starrk actually preferred the alarm to Lilynette kicking him into awareness. The only other Arrancar with a sense of hearing good enough to hear through the walls was Grimmjow, fortunately, messing with panther Hollow always more than made up for disappointments.

Like on Friday, Ichigo rolled out of bed, grumbling about why humans would want to be even close to consciousness at such an ungodly hour. He got ready for school and slinked down to the kitchen, his journey accompanied by the wild curses of an abruptly awoken blue cat. Ulquiorra was sitting at the table, sipping a cup of coffee and plotting new ways to torture the more unruly members of his mismatched family. Or at least that was what Ichigo assumed he did in his free time. The black haired bat Arrancar could have just been going over supplies again. It was hard to tell with the perpetual poker face.

Ichigo walked out the door, a quickly burned piece of toast just as quickly munched down caught between his teeth. He was looking forward and dreading school at the same time that morning. There was something about his new friends that he needed to find out, but obviously it wasn't something he could outright ask them. It drew unwanted attention to himself and danger back to his family, maybe both of them now. On the other hand, school was a new interesting place. High school was much different and exponentially more free than elementary school, and having not attended anything formal as such in six years just made it all the more appealing.

When he made it to his classroom his friends were already piled into their seats, chatting amongst themselves as they waited for class to start. Ichigo walked the rest of the way over to them, sinking into his seat while the ones who were talking (mostly Rukia and Renji) quieted until only a slightly uncomfortable silence remained.

"Hey guys," he greeted, mentally cursing at the slight suspicion his voice carried.

"Hello Kurosaki-kun," Orihime greeted enthusiastically, either getting none of the wariness everyone seemed to have rolling off them in waves or hiding her uneasiness unexpectedly well.

"So how was everyone's weekend?" the orangette tried again.

Ichigo was almost certain another awkward silence would have ensued, but thankfully, Orihime saved the situation by launching into an enthusiastic tale about her ordinary weekend, getting sidetracked so often it couldn't even be joked about. Thankfully, the Ms. Ochi entered the classroom and started class before the girl could go into detail about a new recipe she'd created. The rest of class continued in much the same silence, Ichigo not speaking for lack of subject and the others lost in the information Rukia had shared with them Saturday at Urahara's.

The raven haired midget had shared her concerns of Ichigo's apparent spiritual awareness with not only her friends but also Urahara present. The blond exile hadn't been serious at all through the entire conversation, telling the others that it was either nothing to worry about, or the shop keeper was hiding something. Knowing him, it was more than likely the latter, although Urahara was infamously hard to read, making the earlier just as likely. It was, however, true that Ichigo was spiritually aware at least enough to see Hollows and Quincy bows. Rukia, though not the strongest in her group, was undoubtedly the leader, she wasn't sure if Ichigo was a threat, ally, or too weak to be a real help, but whatever she decided she'd have full support from the rest of her friends. In her heart, she was hoping for the last, that way she wouldn't have to report him to Soul Society and she could keep her relatively uninvolved friend.

When the lunch bell rung she finally resolved to ask Ichigo what he knew of the spiritual world. They filed out of the classroom, going to have lunch in their usual spot on the roof. This time, although no one invited him, there was a sort of unspoken consent that Ichigo could join them. The roof was kind of a dull place, its only redeeming qualities being solitude and the view. The group of six found comfortable places by the railing each placed along the line of a misshapen circle. Lunch started out relatively quiet; the only real conversation was between Orihime and Rukia about whether Orihime's lunch that day was even edible. Ichigo shared a comfortable silence with Chad while Renji went through a one sided conversation, Ichigo interjecting occasionally with a jibe or insult.

It was near the end of lunch that Rukia finally decided to ask. "Ichigo," she started, causing everyone else to fall silent, "Do you believe in ghosts?"

Ichigo took a moment before he answered, his brow furrowed as he thought. Finally, he answered, "Yes. That was kind of sudden, why'd you want to know?"

Almost imperceptibly she stiffened, receiving both an answer and question she was hoping not to hear. "Oh, no reason," she lied, "it crossed my mind and I got curious." She thought for another moment, Ichigo didn't seem too uncomfortable with the question. She might as well get as much out of him as he was willing to give. "I believe in ghosts too," she supplied. Sharing her belief would make it seem less like she was interrogating him and make it more of a conversation. "What made you decide to believe in them?"

Again he took a moment to think. Rukia thought he was fishing for a reason, but Ichigo was actually contemplating how safe it would be to tell the truth. If he said it was because he could see them, there was a possibility it could affect his family, however slight that possibility was. But if he lied, there were one thousand ways and more it could come back to bite him in the ass. In the end, he decided he'd entirely too much time trying to think of an answer and grudgingly decided to say, "I see them everywhere I go."

That was exactly what Rukia had feared to hear. She wasn't stupid, she knew that if Ichigo could see ghosts, like he'd just confirmed, then he should emit at least a tiny bit of reiatsu. The fact that he didn't meant it was so miniscule she couldn't detect it or he was strong enough and knew enough he could suppress it. The previous was highly unlikely, almost impossible, but the latter she was hoping wasn't true. She'd ask Urahara after school, he'd tell her it was nothing to worry about, and it wouldn't be. In her desperation for a human she'd let her imagination run wild. Ichigo couldn't have been anything more than a human with just enough spiritual awareness to see ghosts.

The rest of lunch was a lot more comfortable, everyone joining a conversation about television shows. It quickly became apparent that Ichigo had no knowledge of recent television, Renji carrying the conversation forward by launching into a long winded tirade about his favorite shows and which ones weren't so good. When the school day finally ended the group of original five had grown closer to Ichigo, now that they knew he could see ghosts they didn't have to hide so much from. Their occupations were still a secret though. No matter what he saw, Ichigo was human and had yet to display any form of usefulness, making it a violation of protocol to tell him anything other than their ability to see ghosts.

As the group of five plus one walked home after school, Ichigo was struggling internally. What was he supposed to do? He now knew that everyone in this little group was spiritually aware, but he had yet to discern what they were other than that Uryu was a Quincy. If the rest were as well, it was still a problem, but at least it wouldn't be the Soul Society. If any of them were Shinigami then there'd be a real problem on his hands. He also had no way of finding out. The safest option would be to wait until a Hollow attacked and see how whoever went out handled it; based on how comfortable Uryu was on Friday with Hollow killing the orangette wouldn't have been surprised if the rest of them were just as proficient if not better. As more and more members of the small broke off onto their own streets, Ichigo resolved to remain as uninvolved as possible. The later he had to report the five to Ulquiorra the better.

When Rukia and Renji made it to Urahara's Rukia wasted no time, "Urahara-san," she greeted, Renji grunting something that might have been the same.

"If you need to ask something, Kuchiki-san, then ask it," Kisuke Urahara skipped his greeting, for once completely serious.

Both Rukia and Renji were immediately set on edge. Urahara was never serious, not unless whatever he was talking about was exceedingly important.

"Urahara-san," it was Renji speaking this time, "You remember our conversation on Saturday?" It was rhetorical, only there for common curtesy, all three of the Shinigami knew exactly what the subject was.

"Yes, I do." He sighed. A long, drawn out sigh that belongs to a man who's just had his secret exposed. "New information has come to light hasn't it." The shop keeper hadn't even bothered to make his statement a question, the answer all too clear.

"What are you hiding from us about Ichigo Kurosaki?" Rukia's voice was hard, effectively masking how much she was trying to deny her own words. How had she managed to become this attached to a man's humanity in only a few short days? It seemed strange but the orange headed new kid had a certain gravity to him that attracted all manner of people to him. The short, raven haired Shinigami was no exception and now she seemed to be stuck between wanting to kill him for making her this confused and protect him from becoming involved in the risks of Hollow hunting.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you," Urahara sighed truthfully. Rukia seemed to have a built in lie detector that worked against even the blond ex-captain.

"Why not?" she asked, voice cold as ice.

"I made a promise."

"Urahara, I need to know. In my report to the Soul Society I'm required to mention any possible assets or threats. If you don't tell me they will send someone to find out. Not from you, from him."

Urahara remained stubbornly silent. During their heated exchange, Renji had slinked off to deal with a Hollow, figuring it would turn Rukia's foul mood on him if he bugged her, even though it was her turn. During the previous week, there had been a surprisingly low amount of Hollows; it was slightly suspicious that there was no real explanation for the sudden disappearance of most of the Hollows in Karakura. This week seemed to be the exact opposite however. The number of Hollows had suddenly skyrocketed, hitting new highs with an overall higher amount of the fallen souls. Considering the amount of Hollows had always been unnaturally high, the team of five had their hands full, rarely finding a moment of peace. Truthfully, Renji kind of hoped Ichigo would turn out to be useful. He liked the kid's fiery, easily riled personality and although he'd never say so aloud, would really appreciate any kind of help in the hell hole Karakura represented.

Renji reached the Hollow, dispatching it quickly despite the noticeable increase in strength it had over the kinds of Hollows the red head was used to. Unbeknownst to him, a certain orangette had not yet entered the threshold of his home, instead deciding to swiftly follow the red head that had left his gigai at Urahara's. Too wrapped up in his job, Renji failed to notice a hard faced Ichigo reluctantly marching off to report the presence of one Shinigami, one Quincy, and three others that have yet to be identified.

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Silver: Hope you enjoyed, review, comment, and feel free to point out inconsistencies.

*While wrapping up the chapter Silver doesn't notice the suspicious glare sent her way* ~To be continued (maybe)


	5. Chapter 5

Pansy: *Reads over wrap up from previous chapter* What went threw your head after I left.

Silver: I... have no idea. I did say maybe so it's okay if I just don't right.

Pansy: Sure. Anyway, hooray. The next chapter of Ichigo's Family is up. :|

Silver: Aww Pansy at least fake a little enthusiasm.

Pansy: No

Silver: Fine, I don't own Bleach or any of its characters, and Yay! I finally thought of a plot for this story. Enjoy.

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Rukia and Renji walked through the Senkaimon connecting the world of the living to the Soul Society. The two were due for their biannual report over their jurisdiction. Rukia was not looking forward to it; she'd have no choice but to include Ichigo in her report. Her older adoptive brother and captain of the sixth division, Byakuya Kuchiki, had an uncanny ability to sense when people were lying, his cold personality making it near impossible to hide anything in his presence. Renji was the complete opposite. The red head was thoroughly excited about revealing the orangette. Sure the beginning information gathering stage would be a bit unpleasant but after that Ichigo was more than likely going to become a much appreciated ally, and if not then a strong opponent to take down. Urahara's refusal to speak of the boy automatically made him interesting, that in turn meaning he was likely to be strong.

Guided by their Jigokucho, the pair of lieutenants stepped through the Senkaimon and shunpoed to the set meeting place their respective captains were sure to be waiting in. Said meeting place was in Jushiro Ukitake's office in the thirteenth division. The captain was constantly sick, the location chosen for his convenience so he wouldn't have to move around so much. The two quickly made their way to the thirteenth division building, knowing it was a bad idea to keep their superiors waiting. The scene when they arrived, though only set twice a year was familiar to the two lieutenants after all their years working together in Karakura.

Both Captains Kuchiki and Ukitake were, as predicted, already there, the two sipping tea as they waited for their lieutenants to take their seats. They gave their regular reports, what kind of Hollows there were, how many, and how strong. Rukia expressed were concern for the large and sudden changes in the number and strength of Hollows. Too soon, the report ended and Rukia was left mentally crossing her fingers that neither her brother nor Renji mentioned anything more.

It was not to be however and Byakuya asked, "Is there anything else?"

Renji spoke up, not only because he was eager to continue, but also because it was his captain that asked the question. "Yes, there is actually. There's a new student at the school we're under cover at. He's human yet can see ghosts and seems to have some connection with Kisuke Urahara though Urahara refuses to say what it is."

Both captains thought on this for a moment, but Ukitake knew how Byakuya was and could see the obvious worry and panic showing through Rukia's eyes despite hew calm exterior. He'd always liked Rukia, not even blaming her for the death of his previous lieutenant even as she did so herself.

The sickly, sliver haired captain spoke up before the stoic, raven haired one could. "That could turn out to be a problem. You two should keep an eye on him until you are able to discern whether he is a potential ally or threat to the Soul Society. If you run into any difficulties I'm sure there are plenty of people here who have been dying for a chance to see the living world."

Rukia smiled slightly in thanks, anyone who could have seen dismissing it for gratitude of a different, more professional kind. In return, a kind light sparkled in Ukitake's eyes, his light, ever present smile not much of an indication toward what he might be feeling.

Though Byakuya was of the same rank as Ukitake, he still respected the man's decision, if only because he'd been a captain longer. He agreed albeit reluctantly and Rukia breathed a mental sigh of relief. Things weren't perfect, but they were better than she had ever hoped they could be. The duo returned to Karakura set to tell their new friend about the new life he would undoubtedly get dragged into.

"Ulquiorra?" Ichigo peeked around the door into the family room. The Arrancar sat in one of the fluffy chairs he'd dragged over to the corner, looking up from the book he'd been reading to acknowledge the one who'd called him. "I have something to report."

Ichigo's report to Ulquiorra carried on much the same as Rukia and Renji's to their superiors except there was a good deal less guilt and worry. The Shinigami was the most worrisome, more so than even the Quincy, not because he may have been stronger but because it was definite he could call for reinforcements if need be. The Quincy was undoubtedly alone. He described all five of them, reported the abilities he knew some of them to have, and then expressed his concern for the unknowns.

When the scowling orangette finally finished, he waited in silence while Ulquiorra contemplated the new information, undoubtedly formulating a near full proof plan in the process. When he finally spoke again his voice was still contemplative, "You enjoy living here?" Ichigo nodded. "I will of course tell Aizen-sama about this, but perhaps it would be prudent to see if something could be learned about our enemies. They trust you, yes?"

"They're getting there, but they don't really suspect anything."

Ulquiorra nodded, waving a hand to signal Ichigo could leave as he buried himself in his thoughts, book long forgotten.

Ichigo sighed in slight exhaustion when he left the room. It's not that he didn't like talking to Ulquiorra (He'd long since gotten used the atmosphere others would have been terrified of) but reports were always exhausting. They just weren't fun. He even had to sound professional when giving one and although he'd gotten better, curtesy of Ulquiorra, they just weren't his thing. He continued trudging through the house, determined to at least dump his body on his bed before he went to tell Starrk he was going to explore the town some more since he'd spent most of the last time visiting his father and sisters.

When he arrived at Starrk's, mask set firmly in position, he knocked softly before pushing the door open. Lilynette's surprise attack was easily anticipated, Ichigo's right arm shooting out to catch the kick aimed at his stomach. He caught her easily by the ankle, stopping her attack in midair. What the orangette didn't expect was a follow up attack from a green blob that latched to his waist and knocked him back on his butt.

"Nel," he breathed, gasping slightly as the breath was literally knocked out of him. "I told you not to do that unless you warn me." Ichigo fixed said Arrancar with a not really meant scolding look, effectively blocking out Lily's annoyed and angry demands to be put down.

"Sowwy Itsygo," the green haired childlike Arrancar apologized, stopping briefly in her attempt to choke the life out of her older brother to look mildly sheepish.

Ichigo eventually set Lilynette on the ground when her yells started to rouse Starrk from his sleep. The brunette groaned lightly before rolling over and burying his head deeper into his bed. Had he not known the man better Ichigo would have thought the action just a reaction to the noise and that the wolf Hollow had not yet awoken. However since he did know Starrk better he knew that the groan was Starrk's way of saying, "Whatever you want, go do it, just don't bother me right now."

With the unspoken consent Ichigo made to go but was stopped when the arms wrapped around his waist let go only to crawl up and hang off his shoulder. "I wanna go with Itsygo."

The orangette thought about it for a moment before deciding just to let her come. She was in one of those moods where she'd through a tantrum until she got what she wanted. One of Nel's tantrums never ended well and the doom only seemed to increase in intensity so close to the sleeping brunette form of Starrk. There was no need for Nel to have a gigai and so she didn't, although Szayel may have to make one for her before Friday. So with both already in soul form, Ichigo walked out the door, Nel over his shoulder.

As he explored the changes that had occurred in the once familiar town, he didn't dare shunpo or even step off the air for fear of alerting the Shinigami in the area to his location. That was the last thing he needed at this point. Nel was talking constantly throughout the entire walk, inquiring about everything she didn't know. Ichigo answered all her questions with only half his awareness, too content in the semi familiar surroundings of his old life to give her more than that. But Nel was happy with that as well. It was nice to see Ichigo so relaxed and her questions were still being answered. There was a lot about the world of the living she'd been dying to know, she just hadn't realized how bad her curiosity was until she found out they'd be going to stay there for a while.

That's when the worst possible thing happened. Just when they'd gotten relaxed and content with their surroundings, a large (though smaller than regular hollows) adjuchas class Hollow walked through a tear in the fabric of space. Really, Ichigo just had the worst of luck. It wasn't like he was completely ignorant. Normally he wouldn't care for such a weak Hollow, dispatching it immediately for even thinking it was strong enough to eat him or even Nel, but there were Shinigami in the vicinity and killing it would draw unwanted attention to himself. He also couldn't just walk away, even if Ichigo was putting out less reiatsu than the Shinigami right then, an adjuchas was smart enough to at least be able to recognize an Arrancar by sight. Understanding that it was weaker than him was a whole other matter entirely however and it would undoubtedly follow him until it either died or realized Ichigo was one meal it couldn't have.

Before that though, he had to find some place that neither the adjuchas nor the rapidly approaching Shinigami would see or sense him. He panicked slightly, choosing at the last second to slip into an ally he could see out of but others couldn't see into. Nel squeaked softly at the sudden movement but quickly silenced herself when she felt as well as saw the reason for Ichigo's sudden need to hide. A Shinigami had appeared not too far from where they had been only moments before.

The Shinigami was a woman, though a girl is a more accurate description. She was small with shoulder length black hair that curled in slightly at the bottom. The pure white Zanpakuto gripped in the tightly curled fingers of her right hand was different than the regular ones Aizen had told them all Shinigami got, leading the child like ram Arrancar to correctly assume she was already in her Shikai. She couldn't have been that strong if she thought she needed a Shikai to defeat such a weak Hollow, but of course even she knew that there was no such thing as just one Shinigami.

She threw Ichigo a questioning look, silently asking him what was going on. There weren't supposed to be Shinigami in this town, that was one of the reasons Aizen had let them move there. What surprised her even more was the look of grim, unsurprised recognition in the orangette's eyes. He knew her and he wasn't at all surprised she was an enemy.

Nel turned her eyes back to the Shinigami girl. The only thing she could do now was watch how this fight played out. Not surprisingly, the Shinigami won, though it took her longer than Nel thought it should have.

In all reality, the battle didn't take that long. Rukia had wanted to end this battle quickly. The Hollow was undeniably stronger than any other she had come across before, but not knowing anything about Hollow evolution, she had no idea why it was so much stronger. Oh well, that didn't matter right now, she could ask Urahara later. The Hollow wasn't looking at her though, like most did when a Shinigami appeared. More often than not they were the strongest souls Hollows came across, but this one seemed preoccupied with a dark alley. Rukia chanced a split second glance toward the alley, but looked back toward her opponent when it revealed nothing at first glance.

She needed to kill before it noticed her. "Some no mai, Tsukishiro," she called, drawing a circle in the air with the tip of her sword. The ground underneath the Hollow glowed a cold white, a perfect cylinder of light shooting up from the ground to encase it in a pillar of ice. Not long after, the ice shattered, taking the Hollow with it, the adjuchas's soul dissipating to Soul Society.

After the Hollow was gone, she threw one more suspicious glance back at the alley, wondering what could possibly be back there that had the Hollow so interested. It was too dark however to see into it, so Rukia resolved to get closer for a better look. She walk forward slowly, Sode no Shirayuki held out in case anything decided to jump at her. Where was this fear coming from? She couldn't sense even an inkling of reiatsu leaking from the dark alley, and even though in her mind she knew there was nothing she couldn't handle (if anything at all) she couldn't quite seem to convince her body of the same thing. One more step and she'd be inside the alley. The darkness now seemed unnaturally dark, seeming to suck the light in and leave nothing but a black void. That was ridiculous though and with one last forced step Rukia entered the alleyway.

A sigh of relief was the only thing that could be heard as Rukia visibly relaxed. The alley was empty, nothing but a few old boxes and broken bottles littering the ground. She had no idea why she'd been so scared. The increasing Hollow attacks must have been getting to her more than she thought. Obviously she was just sleep deprived and maybe a little paranoid, nothing to worry about. Rukia left in one swift burst of shunpo, deciding that when she got back to Urahara's she was going to take a well-deserved nap.

Ichigo wasn't all that surprised to see that Rukia was the Shinigami. He'd figured out his friends' rotation schedule almost immediately since Hollows attacks her so often in this town. It had been Rukia's turn by Ichigo's count and it hadn't taken much more than confirmation of the known to convince him Rukia was indeed a Shinigami. Her Shikai didn't seem all that strong when she'd killed that adjuchas but there could have been other hidden abilities she hadn't needed to use. He'd have to be careful with that.

Once the adjuchas was taken care of, Ichigo had the pleasant task of finding a way out of the alley without using any spiritual energy or being seen. Damn Rukia and her thoroughness. He looked at Nel, pleading her with his eyes to please come up with something. She shrugged. They'd lived at the top of the food chain in Hueco Mundo. There had never been a reason to escape undetected before and there had certainly never been a situation where he had serious need to hide. Rukia was getting closer, the unmistakable bubble of panic rising in his chest as he looked around him in search of a way out.

Ichigo blinked. That was just stupid. There was a wall on the other side of the alley but it only reached to just below the second story window of the buildings he was between. The sills provided perfect hand and foot holds to get over the wall and to the street on the other side. Best of all though, the task was still within the range of his body's abilities and therefore required no reiatsu to perform. Rukia was getting closer, only a few steps away from entering the alley and spotting Ichigo and Nel. He sprinted for it. The sill was an easy reach, the wall a good support as he jumped to the next one and silently slid over the brick obstruction.

"I guess we have to go home now, huh Nel." Ichigo's sigh was irritated. He'd really been having fun exploring the new places in his old town and was reluctant to go home just yet (Nel looked really upset too), but knew he had better. Damn, it looked like he'd have to go make another report.

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Silver: review, comment, point out inconsistencies, and Pansy is addicted to chocolate.

Pansy: You didn't have to tell them that!


	6. Chapter 6

Silver: I'm not really all that happy with the beginning but it picks up at the end, promise. But besides that, I finished another chapter, yay. School's eaten a lot of my time but I have prevailed.

Pansy: More like you procrastinated until boredom drove you to writing.

Silver: T.T Why must you always ruin my delusions. Anyway, I don't own Bleach or any of it's characters. Enjoy!

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Early Tuesday morning, a half asleep orangette rolled out of bed to the sound of his screeching alarm clock. Why had he picked that one again? Oh right, if the cursing down the hall was anything to go by, Grimmjow still wasn't used to the noise. As he shuffled around the house getting ready for school, there was the distinct feeling of something wrong hanging in the air. Today was going to be just awful and he knew it.

Throughout his day at school, that feeling just seemed to keep creeping up on Ichigo. It was approaching, but it was doing so at an unbearably snail like pace. By the time the end of the school day rolled around he left the building surprisingly calm despite the fact that paranoia had been eating at him like a curse all day. That was when it happened. The thing he'd been waiting for. That one moment where something horrible happens but you're not as surprised as you should be because the only thing you can think is how much of a bitch life is. He'd just left the building, ready to make the walk to his house for the third time in his life when Rukia ended the conversation she'd been having with Uryu to address Ichigo. "Hey Ichigo, do you have time today? All of us were going to hang out at mine and Renji's place for a while and I think you should come."

Well shit. It would look weird if he refused and unfortunately he was a god awful liar. Figures he'd pick up every bad habit he'd had to live with except Ulquiorra's poker face. Putting on his best fake happy face he simply replied, "Yeah sure, I have nothing else going on anyway." Starrk was going to kill him when he got home.

Rukia seemed to buy his fake enthusiasm, or at least she pretended not to notice, but the others were still trying to process the raven haired midget's spur of the moment, include everyone without asking first idea. Orihime and Chad hadn't had that much to do anyway. They went along with it though Chad was suspicious and Orihime was confused. Uryu was miffed that his plans had been made for him but at least he didn't have to go home to his disgrace of a father so soon. As the group walked on in amiable silence to the Urahara Shoten, the only thing Renji could think was _Urahara's going to kill us_.

When they arrived at the shop, Ichigo froze in momentary shock. Of course this is where they'd live. It was just his luck that he not only agreed to follow Shinigami into their base of operations, but said base also happened to be owned by the crazy blonde and the cat lady. His freeze was only a small hitch in his step, easily mistaken for a light trip over a hole in the road or a rock, but you can't hide anything from the keen, overly interested eyes of Rukia Kuchiki, and she mentally filed the action away as yet more confirmation that the blonde and the orangette somehow knew each other.

Renji threw open the doors to the Shoten to shout a quick greeting before marching in, everyone following dutifully behind. No one seemed to be anywhere in the store, not in the actual store parts nor in the back living space Urahara only allowed certain people to see. They all knew the ex-captain was somewhere in the building though; he rarely ever left his little shop.

Ichigo looked around carefully, the place had changed little since he'd last been there, and even though his little kid brain more than likely couldn't remember ever detail, he knew for certain none of the major stuff had changed. The counter was still lined with various types of candy as were the walls and the door to the storage area was clearly visible beside an almost disturbingly large pile of licorice. Smart choice, Ichigo should have known Urahara would have natural kid repellent on hand, the dark almost bitter candy acting like a force field to the storage door. It worked on most people, but there were always exceptions. He didn't even want to think about what the blond shopkeeper had done to the candy, though he was sure not even someone who liked the stuff would come within ten feet again.

Across the store was a separate, slightly more welcoming door that led to the house attached to the shop. The house section was more hallway than anything. None of the six said anything as Rukia and Renji led them threw the familiar hallway until they got to a specific room in the never ending hall full of uniform doors. How Ichigo had never gotten lost in here was far beyond him.

The group of friends entered a room with several chairs strewn around and a table in the middle. At that table sat none other than Kisuke Urahara himself in all his crazy scientistness… drinking a cup of tea. He finished his drink quickly before immediately turning his evil, flamboyant personality on the friends. Ichigo flinched at that look, it had been entirely too long since he'd seen Urahara (though in his opinion not long enough). He still had his green and white stripped bucket hat perched firmly on his chin length blond hair. It was straight for the most part but curled outward slightly at the end. The hat had a semi wide brim that effectively shadowed his eyes without looking ridiculous. That was never a good look. It always meant he was thinking of a plan, one Ichigo was sure he'd be on the receiving end of. He suppressed a shudder at the thought.

The tension and awkwardness in the air was impossible not to pick up. Ichigo looked ready to bolt, his entire body tensed like a rabbit that knew it was in danger. This was going to be harder than Rukia thought. She had successfully gotten Ichigo to Urahara's (it had been much easier than she'd expected), but know she had the added challenge of getting him to cooperate. Her mind was racing a mile a minute, full of questions but no answers. Hopefully this meeting would force new information into the light, but if not, she could always use a little bit of force herself.

Urahara's response to the whole situation was just a little too cheerful. "Oh, determined I see. Well then, Ichigo if you would follow me to the back room." His smile was so obvious it was visible even behind the fan.

Rukia stepped in before either of them could move, "No you don't. I'm not letting either one of you out of my sight until I get some answers."

Now, Ichigo may be dense, but he's not stupid. It was obvious Rukia knew he had some sort of power, and he cursed Urahara for not keeping the secret. He only hoped that he ex captain hadn't told them exactly what kind of power he had. As manipulative and untrustworthy as he was, Ichigo was sure Urahara was good enough friends with his dad not to rat him out.

"Fine, fine, you can come to Kuchiki-san, but on the condition you won't follow us inside."

Her eyes narrowed, as much as she hated the thought of letting even one of them slip out of sight, she grudgingly agreed to the shopkeeper's conditions, knowing that was the best she was going to get. Rukia followed the two out of the room and farther into the shop. It was impossible not to notice how quiet Ichigo had been during the entire exchange. As much as she wanted her answers, Rukia could tell being here made Ichigo uncomfortable and she was starting to regret it. She pushed that moment of doubt to the back of her mind. Ichigo could get over it.

The room the three reached looked no different on the outside than any of the other rooms, however, when Urahara opened it, the quick glance Rukia was able sneak before Ichigo was practically shoved in revealed that this room was in fact much larger than the others. There were no furnishings as far as she could tell, and for all intents and purposes looked exactly like an extra room. But this was Urahara, a man who knew no such thing as wasted space.

On the other side of said suspicious door, Urahara was oddly cheerful, most likely covering up something Ichigo wasn't sure he was glad he couldn't see. The shopkeeper started with a greeting, like he had randomly come across an old friend he hadn't seen in a while on the street. In some ways he had, except this was a child he hadn't seen in six years and he'd showed up in his house, not on the street. His greeting was the picture of comfort and ease, simply a "Well Ichigo-kun, I never expected you to turn up here again. What sort of mess have you gotten yourself into this time?"

Ichigo's response was to, predictably, glower and hiss, "It's not like I wanted this to happen, but don't you think it would be just a little bit weird if I said, 'sorry, I have to get home' and then answer the 'why' that would surely follow with 'my family is expecting me, but you can't call because we don't have a phone and you also can't meet them or come over'?"

It was safe to talk like that even with Rukia right outside probably doing her best to listen in. Ichigo knew from experience what this room was for. Or rather, one of the little quirks about it, knowing Urahara he hoped he never had to find out what actually went on back there. Either way though, the room was sound proofed and based on the poking Yuroichi had done, it would take a great deal of resources and ingenuity to unsound proof it.

Urahara mulled over the orangette's words for a moment, amending the prediction he'd come up with based on the new information. "I wasn't planning on getting involved," he started slowly, "but I'll help with a little something."

Ichigo's eyes narrowed suspiciously, "What kind of little something?"

"They're going to tell you about Shinigami, and then they're going to ask you to join them." For once, he was completely serious, and in all honestly, it scared the hell out of Ichigo. "The safest thing for you and your family, both of them, is to accept. I'm sure you know though, that your mask is going to instantly arouse suspicion."

A quick, reluctant nod from Ichigo got him to continue.

"You can take it off, but it will feel weird at first since you're so used to it."

Another nod was given and them Ichigo was suddenly in soul form, his body quickly caught and lowered to the ground. He'd learned a long time ago how to separate from it without any outside help. The Hollow mask was set in place over his face, but was pushed up to rest on a sea of orange when Urahara motioned for it.

"This should be fairly simple. All you have to do is focus on your reiatsu and pull it off."

"That's it?" an orange eyebrow quirked up in question. It couldn't be that easy.

"Just wait until you get it off." An evil smirk crept onto the shopkeeper's features. He knew it couldn't have been that easy. Oh well, he'd deal with it when it happened.

Ichigo raised his hand and placed it on his mask. Sliding it back into place, he focused on what he knew to be his own reiatsu, slowly pulling his hand away from his face and taking the bone mask with it. The familiar pressure it provided against his head dispersed along with the boost in power it brought. He normally didn't use a lot of reiatsu in everyday activities, but he unconsciously realized without it he wouldn't be able to get his reiatsu as high as it could actually go. The second thing he noticed when the mask dispersed, though a bit belatedly, was how odd it felt to not have anything pressing against his face or hair.

He brought his hand back to his face, now brown eyes widening in realization and horror, "I feel so _naked_. How am I supposed to walk around like this?"

Urahara just chuckled, "I told you this would be the hard part. You're just going to have to get used to it."

The look on the orangette's face told Urahara how crazy the boy thought that idea was. How was he supposed to 'get used to it' when the absence of something he'd had constantly for years was so profound? That was to be expected though. It would definitely take a while, but Urahara was sure Ichigo could adjust, and until then, pretend and act through the discomfort.

Rolling his grey eyes at Ichigo's glowering, disbelieving brown ones, the blond answered an unspoken question. "You'll be fine. I'll go tell Kuchiki-san you know. That'll give you a few more moments to compose yourself." With that he spun around and cracked the door open to leave. Ichigo took a deep breath and spent a few seconds doing as Urahara had suggested.

Rukia found herself thoroughly frustrated when she realized the room was sound proofed and nothing she tried seemed to do anything. Needless to say, when Urahara exited she immediately confronted him. "Where's Ichigo?"

"Don't get so worked up Kuchiki-san, he's still in the room. I told him you were Shinigami and he's agreed to join you in your cause."

She blinked. Oh, well she hadn't expected that; it seemed just a bit too easy. "If he's already agreed then why isn't he out here?"

"You must understand that he's never worked with any Shinigami other than myself and Yuroichi before and is uncertain how he should act."

That did explain things better. In the future Rukia and the others would have to be careful. Ichigo's first impression of them would turn out to be what he expected of other Shinigami and if he didn't like it, it would be that much harder to work with him. She nodded slowly, hesitantly giving Urahara permission to get Ichigo while she went over possible situations in her head. When the door cracked open, the raven sent a quick burst of reiatsu out to get her friends' attention. It had the desired effect and soon all five were gathered around the opening door in curiosity as to what made Ichigo so special.

When the orangette became fully visible many jaws mentally dropped. None were quite sure what they were expecting, maybe strange they'd never heard of before or another Quincy like Uryu. Hell, even a Hollow with a conscience would have been more expected than this. Anything more expected than Ichigo walking out of that room in a black Shihakusho, a red sash across his chest and acting as a hold for the absolutely massive Zanpakuto already quite obviously in Shikai. Ichigo hadn't noticed it, but his Shihakusho, normally white with a black sash, had become the standard Shinigami one when the Hollow's influence was removed.

But that was irrelevant at the moment. How had a Shinigami been _anywhere_ without _anyone _from the Gotei 13 having any sort of record on him? Rukia must have been staring because there was an awkward cough from Renji and a scowl had crossed Ichigo's somewhat unsure features. The orangette crossed his arms and asked, "Is there a problem?"

"N-no, no problem just surprised." Rukia hated that she stuttered, but the shock still lingered and had somehow managed to permeate her speech.

Uryu decided to save the day with a more professional approach. "You have sided with the Shinigami, but how do we know you're strong enough to be of any use?"

The smirk that followed was nothing short of animalistic, "Would you like me to prove my usefulness?" Uryu shivered, this version of Ichigo was much more hostile than the one at school now that he had nothing to hide. But there was an underlying, almost impossible to distinguish discomfort in everything he did, especially his voice, and surprisingly, it was Orihime that picked up on it first.

"Kurosaki-kun is something the matter?" The question was innocent enough, but the resulting flinch and scowl told her not to dig too deep into his problem.

"I'm fine, just not used to so many shinigami in one area." Ichigo's answer, while not entirely a lie, was easily distinguished as one. But the subject was dropped in the presence of his discomfort and Renji easily volunteered to test out Ichigo's abilities in the training grounds underneath the Urahara Shoten.

The entire trek down, Ichigo's fingers twitched minutely, almost unnoticeably, but the farther along they got, the closer to a confrontation he got, the stronger the urge got to bring his hand to his face and slide that ever familiar bone white Hollow mask into place. To any one else (except Urahara), it was a nasty case of the jitters, nervousness towards the immediate future and impending fight. He shoved it all to the back of his head however when they reached the trap door.

Ichigo wouldn't summon his mask, he wouldn't release Bankai, and he definitely wouldn't kill the pineapple. It wouldn't be good if the Soul Society became aware of the full extent of his power so soon in their partnership.

"You sure you can beat me Strawberry?"

"Hell yeah." He wouldn't kill Renji, but he had nothing against showing the redhead who was dominant, the mentality was ingrained after all.

The two drew their Zanpakuto, the fight starting in an instant. Ichigo's fighting style was probably the most unpredictable and instinct based Renji had ever seen (except maybe Kenpachi's), the orangette's swings wild and unplanned. He came at him from any angle he could, the massive Zanpakuto thrown around like it weighed nothing. Soon enough the crimson haired Shinigami was forced to release his shikai with a barely completed call of, "Howl, Zabimaru". The fight continued, but instead of getting thrashed around, Renji now showed signs of gaining an upper hand. Ichigo had been wary of the Zanpakuto's ability from the start, but he hadn't expected it to extend as it did. It got him good in the shoulder before he could escape and then twice more down his left arm when he'd tried to get away.

Damn, things weren't going as he'd expected at all, but that was all part of the thrill. The redhead clipped him several more times as Ichigo tried to figure out how the damn thing worked. Renji could attack three times before he had to redraw his sword. Perfect. The orangette was losing too much blood, he had to end the fight or risk losing or revealing his other abilities. Neither seemed like a great option. Ichigo retreated to a safe distance; there was no use in blowing himself up along with Renji. In one final move while Renji was redrawing his sword, Ichigo focused his reiatsu on the blade of Zangetsu, ending the fight with a decisive call of, "Getsuga Tensho!"

There was no time to dodge by time Zabimaru had contracted, and the highly concentrated reishi broke effortlessly through the quick defense he'd thrown his sword in front of him for. Ichigo had collapsed not long after the now bloody and heavily damaged Renji, his own blood loss making it difficult to retain consciousness.

Orihime rushed to the scene, frantically healing the two before they could lose any more blood. Chad stood on the sidelines as emotionlessly as always, his blank face giving away none of his shock. Uryu and Rukia on the other hand openly displayed their disbelief. Ichigo was stronger than either could have imagined from an unknown. He would be a great ally in the future if handled properly. Even from this one fight, it was easily decided that one should not get on Ichigo's bad side, for as powerful an ally as he could prove; there was an even greater enemy.

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Silver: It was kind of predictable but... PLOT TWIST! I think.

Pansy: Hey do you have any chocolate syrup.

Silver: No, you ate it all remember. Until Next time, review, comment, point out inconsistencies, and... and... I got nothin'


	7. Chapter 7

Silver: Yay, next chapter. I've gotten my time managed out finally so you people can expect me to update on Sunday from now on. How many Sunday's pass between updates I can't say for sure so don't get your hopes up if you expect me to update every week. Anyway, this chapter turned out fairly well, but some parts are missing details (got lazy) so use your imagination, toodles.

Pansy: You forgot the disclaimer.

Silver: No I didn't!

Pansy: :| Silver doesn't own Bleach or any of its characters. Enjoy.

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Orihime may look and act like a ditz, but when it came down to it, she knew how to do her job. After a few hours, the two boys were practically unscratched, lying out cold on a couple of Urahara's futons while their souls recovered from the taxing fight. Orihime had also been laid out, completely exhausted from healing such extensive wounds two times over.

On the other side of the room, a small table and a few chairs had been set up, currently occupied by the conscious members of the Karakura team plus one blond shopkeeper. Rukia was the first to speak after a long silence, "Thank you for convincing him to join us." It was a reluctant thanks, she hated owing this man.

"I didn't do it for you Kuchiki-san. It's Ichigo's best interest I have at heart." His reply was dark and serious, so unlike him but fitting of the atmosphere.

"I know," the raven replied stubbornly, "But it would have been much harder to convince him ourselves." She paused, going over the consequences what she said next may bring. "If we could convince him at all, so thank you. I owe you one."

The slight frown that had marred his usually grinning features lifted up at the corners ever so slightly. He hadn't been expecting that. It seemed Kuchiki was growing up. They were interrupted from their thoughts not moments later by a pained groan. On the other side of the room, Ichigo had rolled over onto his stomach and was in the process of getting his very sore arms to support his body. It came as a surprise to Rukia that the orangette actually managed. Despite Orihime's ability to erase wounds, the after affect was still there and no one could have recovered fast enough to even regain consciousness so early in the recuperation process, doing nothing other than showing just how strong the orangette was. Even Urahara was shocked at the swiftness of his recovery, it seemed that even with the Hollow's mask removed, several of its abilities continued to affect the body, one of them being what appeared to be a severely weakened version of instant regeneration.

"Good to see you awake Ichigo-san," Urahara greeted the drowsy teen. There was a moment of silence where Ichigo's sluggish mind struggled to make sense of the sounds attacking his brain. As the events of a few hours before slowly crawled back to the forefront of his mind, Ichigo's eyes widened until he all but shot out of bed.

He stumbled, his limbs still shaky and unstable, but caught and steadied himself before his face made friends with the floor. "Urahara-san what time is it?" The urgency in his tone threw the shopkeeper for a loop.

"Um, around five, are you alright Ichigo-san?"

The boy visibly relaxed. Good, he still had enough time to get home without sonido— shunpo, he absently reminded himself. He was a Shinigami now, not a Hollow, and Shinigami used shunpo. "Yeah, I'm fine. I have to go soon though."

"Stop by some other time Ichigo-san." The words were almost lost to the wind, the orangette already exiting into the costumer part of the shop.

Starrk was going to kill him for not checking in right after school, but at least he didn't have the added punishment of missing the only time Starrk was obligated to actually be awake. He ran/hobbled down the street as fast as he could, absently noticing that Urahara must have placed him in his body while he was unconscious. Damn the limp was annoying. With a quick burst of reiatsu Ichigo healed what remained of his injury, happy that he could now do that without drawing suspicion.

The first thing Ichigo did when he got home was go apologize to Starrk, promising to explain everything after dinner when everyone was in one place, it was nearly impossible to round them all up at any other time. While Starrk, Lilynette, and Harribel started on dinner, Ichigo deposited his body in his room before manifesting his Hollow's mask over his face; it wouldn't do to freak anyone out prematurely. Of course they'd seen him without the mask before, but that was years ago and after he'd learned how to maintain it permanently, he never fully took it off. But the removal of his mask was part of the big revealing. It's not like he could parade around Shinigami with a Hollow mask on his face as Urahara had so gracefully explained.

Dinner passed easily. Though most wouldn't think so, Starrk had a poker face to rival Ulquiorra's. When everyone was done, both with food and chores, Starrk asked everyone to go wait in the family room while Ichigo gathered his thoughts. He took a deep breath. He knew exactly what he wanted to say, how he wanted to say, and how not to draw it out. This was so much more nerve racking than he thought it would be. Who knew making decisions that affected people close to you by yourself would weigh so heavily on the conscience? Ichigo stepped into the family room, looking straight at his family gathered all around him. He then proceeded to explain what had happened after school, what Urahara had told him and that his decision had to be made spur of the moment. He told them why he agreed to join their natural enemies and that by the time he realized he was digging his own grave it became impossible to do anything other than dig deeper and hope he came out the other side. Everyone was surprisingly quiet the entire time Ichigo was talking, and when he finished, he told them in order to blend in better he'd have to get used to doing things without his Hollow mask. He let the information sink in, almost too afraid to even breathe for fear of setting off an explosion of questions, reprimands, and punishments.

During the silent spell, Starrk stood up. In such serious situations, he made a surprisingly good pack leader. "I understand why you did what you did Ichigo, and I can only ask that you be extremely careful when dealing with the Shinigami. If you ever get the chance to go to the actual Soul Society I suggest you speak directly with Aizen-sama and see what he thinks on the matter. Until then, it might prove useful to see what else Urahara-san has to say."

That was that. Starrk's words were as good as law at that point, going against it was not only suicidal and stupid, but also a direct challenge to the rest of the pack. Any complaints anyone had went unheard as Starrk dragged Lilynette to their room for the night.

The rest of the week past without incident, Ichigo taking over Renji's Hollow slaying duties while the redhead was recovering. The group still hadn't figured out how Ichigo had healed so quickly. Before anyone noticed the week had flown by and Friday rolled around. Ulquiorra and Grimmjow already had gigai, used only for when someone came around and Ichigo wasn't home (though not many people willingly approach a large, supposedly haunted house), and Szayel had managed to complete six more for himself and the rest of the family by time Friday caught up with him.

Around the household, there were various grunts of discomfort and many flying limbs, the fake bodies being much more restricted than the spiritual bodies everyone was used to. The loudest were Nnoitra and Grimmjow; the praying mantis cursing his head off at the impracticality of a body and the panther's consequential teasing. Ichigo looked around as his family (minus Grimmjow and Ulquiorra) struggled to gain some semblance of control over their gigai; this was going to be a long night he could tell and the actual set time was still several hours away.

"Grimmjow, stop antagonizing Nnoitra, what are you going to do when he finally gets the hang of his gigai?" Harribel's tone was wholly disinterested, only speaking up to save the house from certain destruction. Why neither Ulquiorra nor Starrk said anything sooner was a mystery she didn't bother with, she was surrounded by a bunch of idiots anyway.

Wisely, Grimmjow shut his trap, only sending a teasing glance back at the struggling Nnoitra before wandering off for some other distraction. If it had been anyone else daring to chastise him like a child they'd either be dead or at least in severe amounts of pain, but seeing as how it _had _to be the shark, he grudgingly admitted there was nothing he could do other than obey. Harribel was scary when she was mad.

Ichigo was off in the corner with Nel, supporting most of her weight while she attempted to walk. Surprisingly enough, it was Nel that was actually doing the best with her gigai, most likely due to the fact she was the weakest in her toddler form. There was less reiatsu being suppressed and thus a smaller power gap to get used to. She was still struggling however and even though Nel was, in essence, older than Ichigo, he couldn't help but treat her like a little sister. While Nel giggled and stumbled around the room with Ichigo, the orangette took in how the rest of the Arrancar were fairing.

Starrk had predictably passed out on the couch, but only after a disturbingly focused and serious session getting used to his gigai. The brunette was still in it, not wanting to waste any precious time that Lilynette was incapable of kicking him, the other half of his soul currently inching around on the ground, unable to properly stand much less kick. The next person he studied was Harribel. Somehow, the shark Arrancar had still managed to threaten Grimmjow despite having to use the back of the couch as a much needed support and looking like she could throw up at any moment. It was impressive really, but Ichigo knew better than to say anything. Harribel was scary when she was mad.

Next on the list was Szayel. He was doing noticeably better than the others and almost as well as Nel. Having created the things, the pink haired scientist had some knowledge of how they worked and had managed to progress from flailing and spasming to inching forward on his knees while leaning heavily against the wall. Lastly was Nnoitra, but having already glanced at him a moment ago when Grimmjow left, he found not too much had changed. Nnoitra was sprawled out on the ground, trying to get used to the sudden absence of the reiatsu he'd been forced to develop since he became a Hollow.

All in all, the entire scene screamed weakness, that if any of them were to get into a fight while in their gigai they'd ruthlessly have the shit beaten out of them. That couldn't have been farther from the truth. Any one of them would be strong in human terms if they ever got the hand of their gigai. The difference in power between the strongest of the Hollows and humans was so ridiculously pronounced however that they were having a hell of a time adjusting to the sudden lack of power. How did Shinigami work the cursed things on a regular basis? The lack of muscle control was especially frustrating.

"Ichigo," he turned at the sound of his name, cotton candy blue coming into view from where Grimmjow had called him, "I'll watch Nel for a while, you look like you could use the fresh air."

That was one of the few times Grimmjow's soft side surfaced; he was deceptively observant when he tried. The moment was gone an instant later, Grimmjow strolling back into the room and shouldering Ichigo aside. The blunette caught Nel just as she started to stumble, mumbling for Ichigo to hurry up and scat before Grimmjow was forced to shove him out the door.

There was a ghost of a smirk set on Ichigo's lips when he glanced at Ulquiorra for confirmation he could leave. The slight nod he received was barely a movement, something he would have missed had he not been watching for it. Official permission granted, Ichigo stepped outside for a much needed walk, there was so much he had to think about before dinner tonight.

Rukia was in the room given to her at the Urahara Shoten thinking over how the past few days had progressed. After that fateful Tuesday when Ichigo had joined their team, things in Karakura had been running much smoother. Not only was he strong enough to deal with any Hollow he faced, the stronger, more intelligent ones that had been appearing recently dwindled in number. For a fleeting moment, she thought it was similar to how weaker Hollows acknowledged the territories of stronger ones. That was ridiculous though; Ichigo wasn't a Hollow and certainly couldn't be mistaken as such, not with the distinctive Shinigami feel of his reiatsu and the black Shihakusho he wore. The thought was quickly dismissed and she moved on to orders she had received from Soul Society only a few hours before.

_A cell phone buzzed from a small desk covered in homework assignments, the majority of which were only half completed. Rukia Kuchiki quickly snatched it up, knowing better than to delay reading messages from Soul Society. Thankfully, this particular mission wasn't about a Hollow. Unfortunately, it was about Ichigo Kurosaki. The petite raven paled as she read the message. This couldn't be happening, not so soon. There was no way a low key, routine report would have gotten to the Head Captain so soon, if at all. But clear as day, the message, the _order _stated that she was to bring Ichigo Kurosaki to Soul Society as soon as possible for a more thorough interrogation than Rukia had been able to pull with Urahara so close by._

Interrogation was not the actual word used, but it might as well have been. Questioning individuals that were not part of division almost always included the Twelfth Division in some way. That was not a pleasant thought. Ichigo had just barely won against Renji in their spar a few days prior and while lieutenant class was a far cry from weak, it still paled in comparison to the overwhelming powers of a captain, the Twelfth Division head being particularly cruel with his test subjects and even people in general. Rukia would tell him on Saturday, she had a sneaking suspicion her orangette friend would be busy tonight.

Indeed by the time Ichigo returned to the house, it was almost time to leave for Isshin's house. The amount of progress evident in only a few short hours was staggering to say the least. Szayel, Nel, and Lilynette were walking around normally and while some of the others still stumbled at points, at least everyone was on their feet. Even Starrk managed to get by with barely skip. The actual trek to Isshin's home would have been incredibly awkward had anyone been out doors. A large group full of dramatic age differences and attention drawing hair was bound to get anyone to stare. Thankfully, there were very few humans wondering the street at that time, most having already scurried home for their own dinners.

When the rather large group of people arrived in front of the clinic, Ichigo shot Nnoitra and Grimmjow a warning glare before knocking on the door to the house part of the building. As the door swung open, Ichigo stepped quickly to the side, effectively deflecting his father's predicted attack to the space behind him.

"Ichigo! My beautiful son, have you finally come to see your father?" Isshin was sprawled out on the ground, surprisingly not hurt from the painful impact but then again the man had always been unnaturally resilient. Ichigo had enough time to blush and kick his eccentric father hard in the side once before he was tackled by an enthusiastic Yuzu. Karin was watching disinterestedly from the open doorway, taking in her first impressions of the people who had been taking care of her precious older brother for most of her life.

For the most part they seemed like a motley group, hair colors even wilder than Ichigo's and a large assort of personalities just from the first glance. The tall lanky one— Nnoitra if she remembered correctly— was barely hiding a snicker that would undoubtedly send him down next to Isshin should Ichigo see it. The rest were fairly serious, though the one with wavy brown hair looked about dead on his feet, the light green haired girl next to him standoffish and bored in appearance.

By the time Karin's inspection ended, Ichigo had managed to pry Yuzu lightly off him, walking her into the house with a glance over his shoulder that invited the others behind him in as well. Isshin had miraculously recovered, but she was far too used to it after years of living with her childish father. She turned to reenter the house as well, missing the uncharacteristic warning glare Isshin briefly directed at the people who had raised Ichigo almost half his life.

Dinner was unexpectedly pleasant, Yuzu had gotten carried away in her excitement and made more than even twelve people could eat, giving most of the leftovers to Ichigo, easily settling many future meals. Nnoitra had miraculously refrained from using any profanity around Ichigo's two younger sisters, although that miracle was most likely due to the evil, destructive vibes Ichigo had been sending toward him and Grimmjow. It had been hard, but neither had made a particularly rude comment the entire visit. Neither had wanted Ichigo to cero them into oblivion either so that helped. By the end, everyone had learned a little bit more about someone else and even Isshin decided his son had ended up with a good family despite how much it hurt.

When all the after dinner chores had been taken care of, Yuzu and Karin had somehow managed to kidnap Lilynette with the help of an overly enthusiastic Nel, the four girls now off playing somewhere in the house. Not long after, Isshin confiscated Ichigo and Starrk to discuss something his uncharacteristic seriousness portrayed as important.

"Starrk, yes?" he started. It wouldn't do to mess up his name.

He received a nodded confirmation, the sharp look in the wolf's eyes telling him Isshin had Starrk's full attention despite what his lazy demeanor portrayed. "I discussed how your situation here was been progressing with Urahara recently and am aware Ichigo has had a rather unfortunate encounter with the Shinigami stationed here." He paused, seeming to think his next words over carefully several times before finally continuing. "It seems Aizen is ready to move forward to the next step of his plan, revealing his intentions to the Soul Society, but he needs to 'steal' the Hogyoku from Urahara to draw suspicion away from him. In order to do that, he plans on using your," Isshin turned his gaze on Ichigo, then continued, "arrival in Soul Society as a way to get everyone in a single place, so that no one is unaware of his and Gin's departure."

"So how does Urahara-san plan on getting it to him?" That was the inevitable question, one Isshin wasn't sure what Ichigo's reaction to would be.

"He's going to replace Rukia Kuchiki's gigai with a specially modified one with the Hogyoku inside it. It will weaken her powers slightly, but there shouldn't be enough time for anyone to notice and Urahara left a device behind that separates a foreign substance from the soul. It is incredibly unpleasant however and will leave her weak for many days. I know that you would have met her by now, Ichigo, and I want to make absolutely sure this is alright."

Ichigo smiled softly, an immediate reassurance to his father before further solidifying his unspoken claim by confirming, "She's fine for company, but if it is necessary for Aizen-sama's plan then it's okay."

Throughout the entire exchange, Starrk was strangely quiet, merely absorbing all the information to relay to the others when this was over.

"Oh," Ichigo's sudden exclamation captured the attention of both men, "When am I supposed to leave for Soul Society?"

"Kuchiki was ordered to bring you in as soon as possible, you'll most likely leave tomorrow, Urahara will switch out the gigai tonight."

Nodding in understanding, Ichigo and Starrk went around collecting all the stray Arrancar. Tomorrow was an important day; they'd all better be well rested.

Rukia Kuchiki was sleeping soundly in the futon laid out for her, gigai propped carelessly against the wall. The raven haired Shinigami was blissfully unaware of the silent blond figure sneaking into her room with what looked to be an exact replica of her. The switch was made in an instant, the blond gone before Rukia could sense even subconsciously that something was amiss.

The stage had been set, the only thing left a night of waiting for the next day's dawn.

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Pansy: That's about it, the plot will probably pick up more next chapter so until then, review, comment, point out inconsistencies, and Silver's open to Halloween fic ideas. She really wants to do one but can't think of anything.


	8. Chapter 8

Silver: It's kind of late so this won't be long. This chapter moved a little too quickly for my taste, but it's still longer than anything I've ever done before so enjoy. For once Pansy isn't here, so I'm all alone. Anyway, I don't own Bleach or any of its characters.

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When Ichigo had woken up Saturday morning, he hardly expected it to be to an empty house. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he groggily got ready to face the day before clomping into the kitchen for some much needed breakfast. Instead, he was greeted by a black cat sitting on a windowsill, the familiar sight suddenly reminding him of something.

"Yuroichi-san?" he asked tiredly, his voice slurring a little as the last tendrils of sleep left him. As Ichigo's eyes came for into focus, his question answered itself. The gold hued, intelligence of the eyes should have been enough, but just to drive the point home, it was impossible not to notice the pure black cat those eyes were staring out at him from.

Yuroichi chose to ignore that question, correctly assuming it had become redundant. "Everyone has left for Hueco Mundo already; you are needed at Urahara's for your trip to Soul Society." Her voice was much deeper in her cat form and if Ichigo hadn't known any better, he would have assumed her male. The black cat left in flash, hardly even a dark streak before that too was gone. Completing the move even in cat form was only testament to her undisputed rule as Goddess of Flash.

Ichigo kicked into high gear at the reminder, quickly burning his customary morning toast before rushing out the door and high tailing it to the Urahara Shoten. The air was unusually light that morning, almost as if the very earth itself was breathing a sigh of relief at the disappearance of the monsters that had for a short time walked its surface. The last of these so called monsters chuckled softly to himself at the thought as he walked through the door of the Urahara Shoten, easily meeting the blond shopkeepers for once serious eyes with an air of confidence and purpose. He knew exactly what he was there for, but he was careful not to let it show in anything other than his eyes.

On a quick glance around, Ichigo spotted Rukia not far off, Renji close behind, and he turned to face them fully when Urahara said he needed to finish preparing something in his basement. Rukia had a hard determined set to her stance, but her eyes gave away the nervousness and anxiety that had been clawing at her since she'd woken up that morning. Urahara had made her go out and buy some groceries for him at some ungodly hour, forcing her to travel the town for what seemed like hours before finally finding a 24-hour market. She had been too exhausted to even remove her gigai when she'd returned to the Shoten, merely flopping onto her futon with it still on. Strangely, she'd woken even more exhausted than when she'd fallen asleep, if that was even possible and even after removing the gigai, she'd had a heavy feeling in her chest. In the end, she chalked it up to anxiety; this whole ordeal with Ichigo was getting to her more than she thought. That also stopped her from telling either Renji or Urahara, though she doubted the latter would take real concern.

Brushing off her straying thoughts, she stated bluntly to Ichigo, "I've received orders to take you to Soul Society. I understand you may not want to go, but if you refuse I have no option other than to use force."

"That's fine; I've always wanted to see what the Seireitei looked like anyway." He was smiling faintly at his words, like he really couldn't wait to go. At first that struck Renji as suspicious, but they'd be in the presence of all thirteen captains, so he easily brushed off his moment of doubt. Rukia was far too exhausted to even notice anything was off, and for that Ichigo was grateful; he'd remember to thank Urahara when he next saw the blond. "How do you plan to get us there?" he asked as an after thought, might as well play as innocent as possible.

Renji answered this time, Rukia too dead to the world to make an intelligent response. "That's what Urahara's finishing in the basement. You can't get to Soul Society the normal way because you're neither a plus nor an official Shinigami, so we have to go through the Dangai."

Ichigo nodded in understanding, there was no reason why he shouldn't know about the Dangai.

With that confirmed, the trio descended to the underground training area Urahara had the distinct pleasure of calling his basement. For the most part it was the same as the last time Ichigo had been down. There was only one distinguishable difference, but what a difference it was. Standing tall and proud as a testament to Urahara's genius was an absolutely enormous gate designed specifically for opening a portal through the Dangai unauthorized.

"All ready?" Urahara didn't wait for an answer, all but shoving the trio towards the gate before taking up position to open it. "You'll have four minutes to get through before the Dangai closes, try not to get eaten or stuck." His warning as a little to cheerful, but the dangers of travelling to Soul Society without a Konso or Jigokucho were well known to all three, although it looked like Rukia might have to be carried through.

As soon as the gate opened, the three of them were gone, running as quickly as possible through the gate between worlds. Unfortunately shunpo wasn't an option, even a light burst of reiatsu enough to prematurely attract a Kototsu. Their trip was relatively uneventful, but Renji had scooped a vehemently protesting Rukia up when a Kototsu did appear, there was no reason to take any chances, no matter how much Rukia insisted she could run on her own. With time to spare, the three burst through the light at the end of the tunnel, the Senkaimon closing shortly after.

Ichigo couldn't resist the urge to look around. They had landed just outside another huge gate, this one guarded by a giant in what looked like a fez with two golden tassels off the sides.

"You can let him through Jidanbo," Renji called comfortably after having set Rukia down. "He's part of our mission."

The newly dubbed Jidanbo nodded slightly, opening the enormous gate with hardly any trouble, slowly revealing the grinning form that lay beyond. This new figure was fairly tall, though it was hard to judge due to distance. He seemed a little thin, but the power rolling off of him suggested he was anything but weak. His short silver hair fell forward over his narrowed eyes; the look finished by a tight lipped, mocking smile. In all his life, Ichigo had never met a man more emotionally insecure than Gin Ichimaru, but having been through his own set of emotionally taxing moments, he had never dared to pry.

As Gin came into full view, the orangette felt more than saw Rukia's shiver as she unconsciously shuffled back, putting Renji between her and what was probably the creepiest man she'd ever had the displeasure of meeting.

"Ichimaru-Taicho, what are you doing here?" Renji may have been dense at times, but he wasn't stupid. The redhead could feel his childhood friends discomfort, wanting some from of conformation from the Third Division captain that he wasn't going to do anything to hurt them.

"I was ordered ta bring ya ta the captain's meeting. Can't have ya gettin' lost now can we?" His words did nothing to hide the teasing lilt of his tone. The man _knew _Rukia was uncomfortable around him and he was not at all hesitant to use that. Renji risked a quick glance at Ichigo. The orangette seemed completely relaxed. He was either incredibly stupid, incredibly strong, or a very good actor. At this point, Renji wasn't sure which one it was, for all he knew it could have been a combination of all three.

Renji wanted to argue that they knew their way around Seireitei, but it was never a good idea to go against orders, especially if they were being carried out by a captain. So when Gin turned to make his way back to the First Division, there was barely any hesitance before the redhead was pulling Rukia along after him and Ichigo was going ahead to follow right behind the captain.

It hadn't been that long, not in the grand scheme of thing, but Ichigo still felt it had been entirely too long since he'd last seen Gin, the silver hair and fox like grin of the older man a near constant throughout his life in Las Noches. Lately though, Gin and Aizen had been spending more and more time in Soul Society, not only preparing for their inevitable betrayal, but also to keep up appearances as not to arouse suspicion prematurely. Neither said a word, Ichigo merely enjoying the familiar company while Gin silently reminisced about how much more interesting the boring, white halls of Las Noches had become ever since the orangette had been thrown into their lives.

The group of now four people arrived at the First Division main building fairly quickly, having used a rather lax shunpo to get there. Gin entered first, quickly taking his place between Aizen and the throne in which the Head Captain himself sat. Ichigo was next, having been close behind Gin the entire time. His appearance predictably drew the attention of almost everyone in the room. Of course the old man on the throne would be interested in him, but the orangette didn't understand the creepy, almost Urahara level grin the man in the headdress and painted face was directing toward him. Needless to say it, coupled with the pure hatred the small, blacked haired women was glaring at him with caused no small amount of discomfort. He suddenly wished he'd come in behind Renji and Rukia, the soft, comforting smile Aizen directed toward him as well as Gin's sympathetic one not helping as much as he would have hoped.

Thankfully, Rukia and Renji stopped in front of his not much later, sparing him from the scrutinizing gazes he could feel directed at him from all around the room. Just when he thought he might scream just to end the silence, the old man spoke up, "Abarai-Fukutaicho, Kuchiki-Fukutaicho, this is the human you mentioned in your report?"

"Yes, Yamamoto-Soutaicho, but as you can see, he is no mere human." Ichigo had never heard Renji speak so formally. Even Rukia, who was all but dead on her feet moments before was standing as tall and confident as her exhausted form would allow. The old man must really be something if he can get these kinds of responses from people like Renji and Rukia.

Yamamoto nodded at Renji's confirmation and correct assumption, this boy was indeed special. Where had he gotten his Shinigami powers from? How long had he been flying beneath the Twelfth's surveillance? Both were questions he was determined to find answers to, and now that the source of mentioned questions was standing before him rather awkwardly, they all seemed much easier to answer. That was one reason he'd ordered the two lieutenants to bring him to Soul Society, the two others were much more professionally concerned.

The Head Captain turned his age wizened gaze to the young boy before sighing internally. Another weird one, why were all the truly powerful beings always the ones with problems? That question went unanswered for the time being; only Mayuri or Urahara could tell him that, but they were, even to the Head Captain, two of the creepiest people he'd met and he'd been alive a _long _time. Pushing away his distracted thoughts, he called, "Ichigo Kurosaki, lieutenants Abarai and Kuchiki believe you to be a great asset, prove it."

The orangette raised an eyebrow, "How am I supposed to do that?" Even if one had been watching closely, the quick, uncertain flash of his eyes to Aizen would have gone unnoticed except to the calm brunette himself. Aizen's responding nod was all he needed to dispel his discomfort. Ichigo would go along with this for now.

"You have already defeated one of the stronger lieutenants; I would now like to test your ability against one of my captains."

Ichigo's consent went unspoken as he took a step back, might as well, it's not like he had anything better to do. The Captain chosen was none other than Byakuya Kuchiki, the Sixth Division captain having ties with both lieutenants. That wasn't really the reason he got this fight though, at least not officially. Officially it was because he was in the middle in terms of power within the captain class and he didn't have Mayuri's need to dissect everything. For his own purposes, it was a necessity to test Ichigo, to see if he was strong enough to protect his sister and lieutenant when either was in danger.

Byakuya was calm in assessing his opponent, standing silently in his space of the large training ground they'd moved to. Ichigo stood almost as calmly, he knew he would be hard pressed to win this using only the most minimal amount of reiatsu. Getsuga Tensho was open to him now, but he still hadn't revealed his Bankai. If at all possible, he would rather keep it that way. Aizen was almost the opposite. He wasn't at all worried that Ichigo might lose this battle, but it provided a good measure of power against his soon to be enemies. Ichigo was undeniably his strongest subordinate, ranking even higher than Gin when using _certain abilities_. Depending on Ichigo's power output, he'd have a better idea of the power gap between himself and the Gotei 13.

Byakuya drew his sword after a time. The gap between lieutenant and captain may have been monumental, but one would still have to be a formidable opponent to beat the weaker. He was hoping his superior shunpo would be enough to end the battle, but he was prepared to release should the need arise. Copying the Sixth Division captain, Ichigo drew his own cleaver like sword. He knew the only one likely to match Aizen in power would be the Head Captain, if even the old man, but he wasn't taking any chances, not with a man whose poker face was almost if not just as good as Ulquiorra's. The only difference between the two, what made this one dangerous to him, was that the orangette couldn't see past it like he could with Ulquiorra. This man, Byakuya Kuchiki the man had introduced himself as, could murder him in his sleep and he'd never be able to figure out why.

Byakuya made the first move, his shunpo the second fastest he'd ever seen, but it was still nothing compared to sonido. Ichigo kept up with him flawlessly, the only thing he'd had to get used to was the lack of noise, the customary buzz that always proceeded sonido. It was an easy fix however, especially since his opponent was so slow. Zangetsu easily parried the smaller Zanpakuto, though the force was matched, bringing both swords to a stop. This fight really would be too easy. Ichigo could tell from just one swing that Byakuya was stronger than Renji, but if he played his cards right, he could catch the man off guard and take him down with a few well placed Getsuga Tensho.

Ichigo used shunpo to lose Byakuya, he didn't actually expect it to work though so as expected, the Shinigami noble easily caught up to him. That was exactly what he wanted. Coming to an abrupt halt, Ichigo ducked at the last possible second, using their unexpected closeness to make an opening. "Getsuga Tensho." It was a whispered command, but the effect was no less devastating. The resounding explosion tossed Byakuya away like a rag doll, even Ichigo got pushed back a few feet. It was a powerful move, one not meant to be used in such close proximity. As predicted, a single Getsuga was not enough to defeat the captain as it had his lieutenant, but he was bleeding rather heavily and Ichigo was sure he could win without Bankai if he could just place a few more good hits. Only problem he saw, and probably the most important thing, was that Byakuya was not the type to fall for the same trick twice. He'd have to find another way to land blows, preferably without raising his reiatsu too high.

Ichigo was doing much better than Aizen expected. The battle had barely started and Ichigo wasn't using anything stronger than what his shikai allowed and already the Kuchiki heir had taken quite a bit of damage. As the fight continued back and forth, Ichigo gaining a few injuries but for the most part knocking Byakuya around, Aizen, for once in his life, had a hard time deciding something. Should he bring Ichigo back with him immediately, or should he let Ichigo play his game with the Shinigami a little while longer. As logical as it sounded, Aizen had no need to gather information on his enemies during the coming war, he had already taken the appropriate steps. Ichigo would be there purely for entertainment. But no, he decided it would be best if Ichigo returned to Las Noches as soon as possible. Making plans would pass more efficiently if everyone was present, and on a more personal level, he hadn't seen Ichigo in quite some time. It was one of his subtle pleasures, speaking to his youngest "son", the soon to be traitor was also sure Gin missed his partners in crime, the amount of damage that man could cause would be greatly reduced with just Szayel.

The fight was just about to end. Throughout the battle, Ichigo had maintained the upper hand, but Byakuya hadn't even released his shikai yet. It was pointless to continue, the outcome would be obvious if they were to continue any longer. Executing several complicated shunpo steps, Byakuya but just enough distance between himself and Ichigo to hold his sword out in front of him. With a whisper of "Scatter, Senbonzakura," the abrupt disappearance of his blade caught the charging orangette off guard. Left vulnerable to the near omnipotent attack, Byakuya's cherry blossom petals surrounded and converged on Ichigo in the span of an instant. He would not be defeated by a child.

The battle was over the instant the Sixth Division's captain landed that attack. Ichigo dropped to the ground, not unconscious but close to it after the uncountable amount of wounds inflicted on him all at once. Ichigo Kurosaki had lost, but he'd put up a good fight before then, only falling when the captain was forced to draw his shikai. He was indeed powerful, too bad none but two of the gathered knew just how strong Ichigo really was.

In that moment, when Renji rushed forward to make sure Ichigo was indeed still alive, Aizen decided he'd had enough of this. Ichigo should never be so weak. Besides, he'd been patient enough, he'd stalled for far too long, it was time to finally break away from the pathetic excuse for power the Gotei 13 believed they wielded.

He stepped forward, Gin not far behind, and caught Rukia as she began to fall from the loss of her support. "Ichigo, heal yourself, weakness does not suit you."

All eyes turned to Aizen and Gin from where they now stood by Rukia, his apparent familiarity with the orangette confusing and unexplainable. And then even more to the surprise of all in attendance, Ichigo's wounds started to bubble and foam a white, fluid substance. It spread over his wounds easily, disappearing by sinking back into the newly healed skin in hardly any time. The orangette easily pushed Renji off, standing the rest of the way on his own and shocking others further with the abrupt disappearance of his near fatal wounds.

"Is it time to leave Aizen-sama?"

Said man smirked at the disbelieving eyes directed his way. "Almost. But you really were too easy Kuchiki-Fukutaicho; it seems I was over prepared. There were so many ways to obtain what now resides within you, but I believe this will be the most efficient."

"What are you talking about Aizen?" Toshiro's voice cut above the stunned silence. He asked, but there was a clawing feel in his gut that told him he already knew the answer.

"Isn't it obvious? Before you exiled that man, Kisuke Urahara, he created a device. A very special device that fulfills the greatest desire of the one it recognizes as master. Urahara hid it somewhere he believed no one would find it, in you're gigai, Kuchiki-Fukutaicho. The Hogyoku can grant unlimited power, and it is central to my plans hence forth."

With that said, he fished a vial out of his pocket, breaking it easily and in turn activating it. the ground around Aizen and Rukia glowed, Gin jumping out of the way just a several claw like structures burst forth from the ground in the semblance of a circle. "Naturally, if he put it somewhere it couldn't be reached, there must be way to remove it. All I had to do was find it." The hand he used to break the vial was enveloped in a strange glove like thing, and before anyone could react, Aizen thrust his hand through Rukia's chest and slowly removed a small sphere encased in glass. "It's smaller than I thought it would be. No matter I have what I came for." Aizen removed his hand, taking the Hogyoku with him, and watch curiously as the gaping hole in Rukia's chest closed seamlessly. "Fascinating, no harm done to the recipient." He turned slowly to address Gin as the effect of Urahara's device wore off. "I have no use for her now."

The silver haired man got the message, drawing his Zanpakuto in the blink of an eye and making to stab Rukia through the heart. The girl was still weak from the entire experience and could do nothing, not even move out of the way. Gin did pierce something with his blade, though it wasn't what he expected. Rukia had been pushed off to the side, so instead of killing her, he ended up stabbing Byakuya in the shoulder. Who knew he had it in him to be a decent brother?

To say the Head Captain was furious would be a serious understatement. The man was livid, but he knew Aizen must be much more powerful than he let on if he was indeed openly betraying the Soul Society. Unfortunately, not everyone deduced that through the shock and anger and none other than Sajin Komamura blindly charged in.

"How dare you turn traitor," he yelled, his sword raised and ready to strike the much smaller man. His attack never landed though. Before he could even attempt to strike at Aizen, a large, cleaver shaped sword appeared from his back threw his stomach. In the heat of the moment, many had forgotten, the recently recovered Ichigo, that boy was more powerful than any of them knew, and that made him even more dangerous than Aizen.

"Mah, mah, Ichigo, that wasn't very nice of you," Gin's teasing voice cut in.

"He was going to hurt Aizen-sama. I was putting him in his place."

"I appreciate the thought, Ichigo, but there was no need. You should not stress yourself after your fight with Kuchiki-Taicho."

The orangette nodded his head slightly in acknowledgment.

Tired of being ignored and subtly mocked, the Head Captain's livid voice cut through, "What is the meaning of this? What do you have to gain from challenging the Soul Society?"

Finally turning to face the old man, Aizen answered, "I am going to become a god. As of right now the Soul Palace is empty. The Soul King is long dead and no god exists upon the throne. But that will no longer be the case. From now on, I'll be god; I'll be the man sitting on Soul King's throne."

With the end of his speech, and before anyone was foolish enough to attack again, a golden light shot down from the sky and enveloped the three, a dark rip appearing where the light had originated.

"Negacion," someone breathed.

Eyes widened, Toshiro called out, "Aizen, you don't mean you've actually sided with _Hollows_?"

The man smirked, whipping off his glasses and smoothing back his hair, "Oh but that's exactly what I've done. I shall rule as King of Hueco Mundo until the time arises I can lead my followers to the Soul Palace as the rightful king."

With that the three were gone, swallowed by the Hollow's Negacion, and all hell broke loose.

* * *

Silver: Finally, Aizen and Gin have been officially introduced. It took me a while to write the scene with Gin at the gate (I was fangirling like the entire time) but over all I think it turned out pretty good. I could have chosen to make this longer by having Ichigo work the Shinigami for a time, but then I thought, nah, there's a lot of other things I want to work on, This story is already getting to be longer than I thought. So anyway, review, comment, point out inconsistencies, and maybe I'll have the next chapter up by next Sunday.


	9. Chapter 9

Silver: So this chapter is mostly filler with a few important things at the beginning and end. I wouldn't take it too slowly, and also there are no secrets in this family. Mostly for future reference to stop flamers and because Aizen is so much nicer to his subordinates than in canon.

Pansy: You completely left out Tou-

Silver: I don't acknowledge such trash as a character, much less a member of Aizen-sama's inner circle.

Pansy: OK, now you sound like Ulquiorra

Silver: Doesn't matter. I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. Enjoy

* * *

When none of the three Shinigami showed up to school the following Monday, no one thought anything of it. They were probably just taking longer in Soul Society than was originally planned. After a week and all continued to fail in appearing, Orihime got worried. Despite Chad and Uryu's best efforts to pacify her fears and wild imagination, they too were worried for their friends' well being. It wasn't until the next Monday that they all appeared for school. There was a major difference though. Rukia and Renji seemed to be avoiding Ichigo at all costs, refusing to talk about the issue but promising to answer questions during lunch. Ichigo was almost the same. He didn't seem to mind the way he was being treated but wasn't outright avoiding them either.

Soon enough, lunch rolled around and the five went up to the roof, Rukia and Renji refusing to let Ichigo join them.

"What's wrong with Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime asked as soon as they had settled down for lunch.

The two Shinigami lieutenants than began to explain what they'd learned about Ichigo from their time in the Soul Society. Needless to say, the three were shocked someone like Ichigo had turned out to be the enemy. Also that Aizen and Gin were traitors, that too. But it was all a lot to take in. Sure Ichigo was a bit strange, but so was every other Shinigami they'd met. He just didn't seem like bad guy material, the explanation made sense though. It explained how he'd just seemed to pop out of no where, how he was so adept at Hollow slaying and the odd effect he'd had on the Hollow population in Karakura after joining them for a brief time.

A sudden question invaded Uryu's mind, "If he left with Aizen for Hueco Mundo, why is he here today?"

Renji looked about to say something, but Chad cut him off quickly, stating his rarely voiced opinion, "You should ask him."

Dumbstruck and more than a little shocked at the ludicrous suggestion, Renji had to ask, "Why should we? He's our enemy, we won't talk to him, and even if we did it's not like he'd give answers."

Chad just narrowed his eyes slightly, standing and heading back into the building. He didn't say where he was going, but it was painfully obvious anyway. Despite both Shinigami vehemently rejecting the possibility of fraternizing with the enemy, it looked like that choice had been made for them. The large Mexican came back soon after, a scowling orangette that still managed to look bored following not far behind.

"What do guys want? I figured after Saturday you wouldn't want to talk to me." His tone implied he had better things to do, though what that was couldn't be determined.

Renji turned away with a glare and "Che", refusing to acknowledge the man who had just begun to think of as a friend. Rukia was only a bit more composed, realizing that now would be a good time to at least attempt to gain information, no matter how much she wanted to childishly follow Renji's example.

"Why are you still going to this school?" she asked, voice emotionless lest she betray her angered and hurt feelings.

Rolling his eyes at the raven haired Shinigami's failing attempt at a poker face, he replied in more detail than was probably necessary, "I was the one who wanted to attend this school when I first showed up, just because we're on opposite sides of an ongoing war doesn't mean we can't go to the same school. In that case, can we agree to make Karakura town neutral ground, at least until the war really picks up?"

That earned him suspicious glances from everyone but Chad and Orihime, who still enjoyed the orangette's company despite his status as an enemy. Why would he want to make Karakura neutral? Ichigo shouldn't care what happens here, meaning there was something here he cared about enough to cover up.

Rukia sighed, giving in to Ichigo's proposition, that would give her time to figure out what that something was. Blackmail was more important now than it ever had been before. Though this would be the hardest she'd ever had to obtain. She had no idea what she was looking for, only that it was somewhere in this town and couldn't or wouldn't be moved to Hueco Mundo. She decided to worry about that later, it seemed Ichigo had been invited back into the group by Orihime and Chad despite the information she and Renji had just shared with them. Renji was still refusing to acknowledge the orangette and it seemed Uryu's vote didn't count for anything, meaning that even if she voted against Ichigo, she'd still be overruled.

Lunch passed surprisingly pleasantly. Ichigo wasn't all that bad despite the side he'd taken for this whole war debacle, causing Rukia to seriously question how someone as good-natured as Ichigo ended up with someone as manipulative and evil minded as Aizen. He was easily provoked, but also funny and easy to talk to. He was serious when he needed to be and only truly violent when he had to be. So seriously, how had someone like Ichigo ended up with a species as ruthless and unnecessarily violent as the Hollows? That was a question for later Rukia supposed, she'd have to build his trust before she asked Ichigo something so personal. Karakura may now be common ground, but they were still on opposite sides of a war and neither side was going to give information away carelessly.

At the end of the school day, Ichigo still walked with them on the rout back to their respective houses until eventually, Renji decided he'd ignored the orangette enough for the day and asked, "Where do even live, Ichigo? You're always the farthest down the street." After a moments thought he added, "Do you even have anywhere to live?"

The orangette rolled his eyes at the absurd, thoughtless question, "Of course I had somewhere to live. But it's unoccupied now since everyone went back to Las Noches to start planning. I go back to Hueco Mundo after school now."

_Everyone else?_, Rukia questioned silently. Aloud she asked, "Then why haven't you left already?"

"I have to go get the stuff everyone left at the house. They were forced to leave rather abruptly and only had time to grab a few things."

Chad quietly offered there help, "Would you like us to come help you collect everything?"

The surprisingly friendly question earned him a suspicious glance, but Ichigo figured it couldn't hurt any after thinking over what was left to collect. "Sure, that'd be great," he answered with a dismissive wave of his free hand. Obviously, that had not been the response anyone was expecting. There was a multitude of disbelieving gazes direct at him, though Chad's soft, almost unnoticeable smile told Ichigo at least someone was pleased by his answer.

Orihime and Chad lived alone and Uryu refused to recognize Ryuken Ishida as his father, so all that was left to do before the group set out for Ichigo's now abandoned house was for Renji to call Urahara and let him know they'd be coming in late. Neither temporary residents of the Urahara Shoten knew why the blond insisted they check in after school, especially when he never made them do it at any other time. Just another one of his strange quirks Rukia guessed. Anyway, when they'd gotten to a large house at the end of the street to which Ichigo easily produced a key, there was skepticism heavy in the air, not to mention the suspicion almost suffocating the orangette. He shouldn't have been that surprised by the overwhelming negative feelings though, it was only to be expected when following the enemy into his former lair.

The first thing any of them noticed was the faint lingering of Hollow reiatsu in the air. Ichigo didn't seem to notice it, or if he did, it didn't bother him, but the others immediately tensed up, possibly suspecting a trap of some sort. But after a moment of careful probing, Uryu decided it was already several days old and relaxed slightly. The other four noticed the same only moments later, Orihime relaxing almost entirely while Chad, Renji, and Rukia only a little.

As they walked through the house, Ichigo flicking lights on along the way, he pointed out what needed to be gathered up and where it should be. He actually gave a lot more information to them than was probably necessary, subtly giving them an idea of how many of them there were. Even though it might hurt Aizen, he still felt he had to do something to make up for punching a hole through Rukia's chest, even if it hadn't been him personally.

Eventually, everything that needed to be gotten was sitting in a pile in the living room, everything except the contents of the basement. They were all gathered around the entrance, Ichigo glaring daggers at while the others stood around, perplexed as to who or what would have possibly put such a powerful Kido around the door and why he or she felt the need. After a few minutes of heated glaring, the orangette trying to will the barrier away, he finally started prodding at it with his reiatsu. Maybe if he pushed hard enough he could overpower it. After another few minutes of futile prodding, Ichigo finally gave up and decided to curse whatever hole Szayel crawled out of when he got home for putting up such a thorough barrier.

Sensing that Ichigo had given up on trying to force the door open, Rukia finally took pity on him and displayed her own adeptness at Kido, breaking the barrier after much pounding and a multitude of complicated spells. Whoever but up the barrier in the first place must be exceedingly powerful, she'd have to remember that when she reported.

Sending a soft smile of appreciation toward Rukia, he asked, "Could you all stay up here, I'd rather not subject you to the horrors that lay beyond."

"I'm sure whatever it is can't be that bad," Renji countered effortlessly.

Ichigo rose an eyebrow in question, "Are you sure? I've been told Szayel is similar to your Twelfth Division captain. If you are unwilling to set foot in his lab I highly doubt you'll do any better in Szayel's."

Again, more leaked information. Ichigo really was not being as careful as she expected him to be. Why was he giving information away to easily? Despite her suspicion, Rukia filed the name away for later use along with his position on Aizen's side.

While the raven haired Shinigami was lost in thought, Renji had paled considerably at the thought of Mayuri's lab. He'd never been in there personally but from the way the creepy captain acted even in public he was sure he'd never want to. With that settled, Ichigo crept silently into the basement, gathering up the calculations Szayel was forced to leave behind, easily keeping his eyes from straying to the ceiling. Szayel always strung the creepy things up from the ceiling. That was all Ichigo seemed to find, anything of greater importance destroyed, memorized, or in Las Noches already.

Reemerging from Szayel's temporary lab, calculation neatly folded and placed on top of the pile, Ichigo glanced back at the people that helped him. "Thank you for your help, you don't have to stay." It was clearly an invitation for them to leave, if just a tad threatening, but no one budged an inch, not willing to go without getting the answer to the one thing they were all thinking.

The orangette narrowed his eyes, this couldn't possibly turn out well, "What do you want?" he turned to fully face them when he had gathered the surprisingly small pile of belongings into his arms.

Rukia, taking after her brother took the leadership position with minimal discomfort. "How do you plan to get to Hueco Mundo when you are obviously not a Hollow? I doubt you will be able to use a Negacion for such a mundane reason."

Ichigo smirked lightly, "Such ignorance, you know Urahara-san has been studying Hueco Mundo for some time now. If you want answers, ask him. Though, if you pay attention you may be able to figure it out on your own." With that, he raised a hand in front of him, his index finger hooked like a claw before he slowly drew it through the air, effortlessly tearing a rip in the fabric of space. "See you guys tomorrow," was his final call before the darkness swallowed him whole, the Garganta closing seamlessly after him.

The Karakura team left the house, most deep in thought as to the information Ichigo had discreetly provided them with. The only one who didn't seem worried at all was Orihime, but that was probably because she'd already figured out most of it. The two Shinigami were shocked that despite working with Hollows, a Shinigami was able to open a portal to Hueco Mundo with hardly any effort. Rukia in particular was trying to determine just what kind of person Ichigo was and why he had provided them with so much information. He was the enemy, or so she assumed, which made no sense considering how friendly and comfortable he was with them. She let her thoughts drift off, there would be time for heavy thoughts later.

Ichigo slipped through the Garganta easily, carrying the decently sized pile of various belongings. The end of the portal came into view quickly, dumping the orangette in the stark white halls of the Espada living quarters. Sure there were technically only eight of them, but they still had time to find other members. Ichigo walked around to everyone's respective rooms, handing stuff to the ones that were there and dumping the belongings of those who weren't in front of the door. The only ones that were actually in their rooms were predictably Starrk and the not so predictable Nnoitra, the others out doing whatever it was they did in their free time.

When Ichigo had knocked on Nnoitra's door, he wasn't sure whether he was expecting an answer or not. Even if he was, he definitely did not expect the door to be answered by a scarred looking Tesla, maybe it hadn't been such a good idea, leaving him alone with only Halibel and Nel's Fraccion to take care of Las Noches. Despite his appearance however, he was doing his best to act like it hadn't been a problem for him. The charade was more than likely an attempt to show Nnoitra he was worthy of being the Espada's Fraccion. Ichigo decided he'd rather not know the unspeakable horrors that had befallen the poor Arrancar in their time away.

Since, the Fraccion weren't an official part of the Espada family, they had stayed behind to look after Las Noches while their superiors were elsewhere. Lilynette was the only exception because she was not only a Fraccion but also Starrk's Zanpakuto. How that had come to be Ichigo wasn't sure he wanted to know, the two were so different it almost hurt seeing them together, but after spending so much time around their collective strangeness, he had, like most other things in Hueco Mundo, gotten used to it.

After he was done distributing everyone's stuff, Ichigo dumped his body in his room before using sonido to quickly reach the throne room Aizen and Gin were sure to be finalizing plans in. True to his assumption, Aizen sat at the head of the meeting table, Gin peering over his shoulder to get a better look at the blueprints of some new invention Szayel had come up with.

Ichigo cleared his throat to gain there attention, bowed slightly, and then finally reported in on his mission, "My mission was a success Aizen-sama, although I fear I may have said too much."

"That's alright Ichigo," the brunette smiled reassuringly. "Once we find the last two Espada, it won't matter how much you've told them, besides, I trust you did not reveal anything specific about my plans."

He received a relieved nod in answer, really, Ichigo worried far too much for his own good. "I've nearly finished here." Aizen continued after a moment. "I no longer require Gin's presence; you may do what you will."

The two used their respective flash steps to quickly cover the area to Szayel's lab. That place was the perfect congregation point. The three of them, much to the misfortune of the other residents, got bored quite easily, and somewhere along the line had formed a sort of team. The other Arrancar knew better than to get too close to Szayel's lab, the pink haired scientist keeping his more volatile experiments there as opposed to his room. Not many unwanted guests wandered by, and there was always some new prototype Szayel needed to test. Unfortunately, it was now impossible to find someone willing to try it for him, which in turn led to his alliance with Ichigo and Gin. The two always enjoyed tormenting the others in times of boredom, but it was almost impossible to catch either in the act.

When the two arrived, Szayel was indeed in his lab, the calculations from the temporary lab sitting off to the side, most likely delivered by one of his many Fraccion.

"Hey, Szay, Gin's free for a bit, got anything you need to test?"

The scientist spared the two a quick glance before pointing briefly to a set of guns. The instructions on what to do with them were already laid out, explaining that they were guns, but they fired a specially modified kind of Hollow bait. Szayel wasn't actually sure what the new concentration did and wanted them to try it out.

Each grabbed a gun and the respective catridges, not waiting to go plan their prank of the moment. "Why do you think we need the guns? Shouldn't just crushing one be enough?"

"Don't know," Gin replied easily. "Considerin' it's a gun, maybe we have to hit a Hollow for it to be fully effective."

Thinking on that, Ichigo then asked, "Maybe. So, any idea how to fire a gun?"

The silver haired man looked like he was about to answer, but eventually gave up and said, "No clue. We could ask Starrk, he would know."

There was a moments hesitation, where neither was sure they wanted to wake Starrk up, but in the end, it was decided they would both get bored if they just sat around and did nothing, this would be much more enjoyable despite the consequences should either get caught. Aizen didn't particularly care what his subordinates did, as long as it didn't interfere with his plan, but some of the Espada angry would be enough.

The two strolled leisurely this time, using their mutual desire to stay out of Starrk's room as an excuse to catch up on what had happened while Gin was in Soul Society and Ichigo was in Las Noches and the human world. neither was particularly afraid of Starrk, he was just unpleasant if anyone but Lilynette woke him up, meaning he'd cero whoever it was into oblivion and beyond if he could.

It was impossible to continue on forever however and they soon found themselves faced with the door to Starrk's room. Knocking lightly on it, the door swung open not much later, an irritated looking Lilynette on the other side. She eyed the two suspiciously, silently scoffing at their god awful attempts at hiding their weapons. "If you want Starrk to show you how to fire a gun, forget it, we don't need ano—"

The girl was cut off by a large shape blocking out the light from the room. Starrk stood looming over her, his newly awakened form probably the most threatening the wolf Arrancar could appear without being in a serious fight. Starrk glanced down at the guns they were failing to hide, wordlessly, fixing their grips, showing them how to load, cock, and then fire the gun. It was actually quite amazing how much he knew about the things. They may have been his Resurreccion weapon, but all he had to do to fire them was force energy through the barrel and out in the form of a highly concentrated cero.

Starrk was sure he'd regret it later, but by teaching them how to use their new toys, he'd bought himself immunity from this round of insane, Szayel created prototypes. A few extra hours of sleep would definitely be appreciated.

Ichigo and Gin worked in perfect sync, an ability developed from years of tormenting the other Arrancar. Neither had a real plan, so the first unfortunate Arrancar they came across was also their first victim. For whatever, reason, Grimmjow seemed to have the worst luck, the duo catching him off guard in the hall. They converged from both sides in a kind of pincer movement, Gin firing off a shot, nailing the blue haired Arrancar's right shoulder. Upon contact, Grimmjow began to glow in a swirl of reiatsu until he emerged in his Resurreccion form. There was one distinct difference though. He didn't just look like a cat; he was acting like one too.

"Well I guess we know what it does now," Ichigo noted as the two watched Grimmjow sniff around curiously.

Gin looked thoughtful for a moment, though his tight lipped grin never left his face, before finally saying, "I got an idea," and pulled a laser pointer out of his pocket.

"Why do you carry a laser pointer with you?"

"Ah, ah, I don't question why you keep a stuffed lion in your room."

The blush and silence that followed were enough to let Gin know his point had gotten across. Flicking the light on, the silver haired Shinigami pointed the concentrated red beam at the wall, chuckling when Grimmjow attempted to pounce on it.

Gin and Ichigo continued on like that, reverting as many Arrancar as they found to the animal instincts their Resurreccion were based off of. It was easily decided however that they'd avoid Starrk and Halibel, Starrk because he'd helped them, Halibel because both weren't sure if making the only female Espada act like the shark she was would be a good thing. Nel was surprisingly the scariest of their victims, not thinking anything of it when she trampled over the lesser Numeros Arrancar. It was easily decided that Ulquiorra made a close second though, the reiatsu naturally flowing from his Segunda Etapa suffocating to the weaker Arrancar scattered throughout Las Noches, almost if not just as potent as Starrk's own overwhelming reiatsu. Not to mention he looked like an honest to god demon with the hooked wings and twisted horns added on to his already depressing appearance.

After they were finished though, Ichigo decided it was worth the possible pain when whatever Szayel had made wore off, and Gin, who was untouchable anyway, was enjoying every second of this game. It took a few hours for Szayel's Hollow bait to wear off, but once it did, it left the unfortunate victims in various states of confusion. Much to the relief of the two, no one seemed to remember what had happened in the time Szayel's newest invention had been in effect.

It was several days after their latest game that something finally happened. Aizen was mostly done planning, satisfied that he had back up plans for his backup plans, the only thing now missing were the last two Espada. Kind of ironic since having all ten was central to his plan. But that was easily fixed, there were already several Hollows scattered throughout Hueco Mundo that were capable of becoming Espada, though he'd rather not use them, seeing how they were still much weaker than the Espada he already had. That left it up to Urahara to help him search for suitable candidates, but even he hated owing the man.

Overall, the last two Espada weren't all _that _important. He'd already received confirmation from both Isshin and Urahara that the Soul Society knew he planned to end the war by this coming winter; it wouldn't due to leave them in the dark. The old man was too predictable anyway.

In the time that followed, Aizen that called a meeting, everyone sitting in their respective seats while Gin stood at his side. "I'm sure you're all aware we would be going to war at some point, yes?" For once he didn't bother with pleasantries, there was too much to do in too little time for it to be wasted on such things.

There were various mumbles of agreement from around the table as well as the nod of a few heads. It was obviously a rhetorical question, but one that warranted answers anyway. "The final battle will take place this winter, the Soul Society is already aware of this development, so now it's time to introduce yourselves. Ulquiorra, you'll be taking Grimmjow and Szayel to the World of the Living. Do whatever you feel is necessary but don't cause too much damage."

Ulquiorra was already out of his seat with the brief nod of his head, waiting expectantly for Grimmjow and Szayel to stand and follow him, but that _one _question just had to be asked before hand. Not surprisingly, it was Grimmjow that mentioned it. "Aizen-sama, what about the two missing Espada?" A second later he added, "And our own ranks as well?"

The brunette sighed softly, unnoticeable to all but Gin who was right by him. "I realize the complications we have with that, but after thorough investigation, it seems even those with the potential to become Espada can not compare to any of you." He stood, motioning for the others to do so as well. "Now is the perfect time to assign your numbers."

That was when everything went black. A short Kido spell had whispered, something unknown and most likely forbidden, but it mattered not. What did matter was the burning sensation on a specific part of everyone's body. The blackness cleared just as suddenly as it had appeared, the only difference the curious looks on everyone's face as they wondered what number they had gotten and who was above and below them.

"Reveal to your brothers and sisters the measure of your power."

It wasn't much, but the message was clearly spoken, and Ichigo was the first to pull the collar of his jacket down, revealing the gothic styled number one emblazoned on the left side of his neck, right where it met his shoulder. "Ichigo Kurosaki, Primera Espada." The introduction was less than unnecessary, but it was customary, and so added.

The next to reveal his rank was Starrk, lazily removing the glove on his left hand to display the number two there, set in the same style as Ichigo's. "Coyote Starrk, Segunda Espada."

It continued down the line like that, the next one to speak Ulquiorra, making him the Tercera with the number on the left side of his chest. Next was Halibel, her Espada tattoo placed on the left side of her right breast. Somewhere during the numbering process, Nel had reverted to her adult form, turning to show everyone the gothic five tattooed largely across the center of her back. The new Sexta was Nnoitra, his rank plastered on his freakishly long tongue. Grimmjow's seven was just above and slightly to the right of his Hollow hole, just barely visible from beneath his short jacket. Lastly was Szayel, who claimed his number was on his right hip, but refused to actually show anyone.

With numbering and introductions out of the way, Ulquiorra again turned to leave, the newly ranked Szayel and Grimmjow following not far behind. The first battle of the war was about to commence, things would undoubtedly become very interesting in the near future.

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Silver: Honestly, I'm really proud of this chapter. The transitions may have been a bit random and fast in progression, but for a filler it was pretty good. Now, all I need are the last two fodder Espada. I'll just choose a few random Hollows or Arrancar unless anyone has serious preference. In that case, review, comment, point out inconsistencies, and hopefully the two new Espada won't be totally useless.


	10. Chapter 10

Silver: So this author's note is actually going to be somewhat serious. I need to clear some things up, answer a few questions, and reveal something for future reference. To start, Ichigo knows everything about who he is, I believe I stated that in the first chapter. This means his powers are going to not only be more developed and stronger overall (since he's had them longer) but he will also have powers he doesn't gain until the Thousand Year Blood War arc, so if you haven't read that far or have only watched the anime, this can be considered your spoiler warning. Second, Ichigo knows how and why his mother died, so he's not as bitter and serious as he is in canon, so don't bitch about how OOC he seems. Lastly, I hate OCs to bloody death. There was a review replying to my closing last chapter that wanted one, so I'm sorry I didn't make that happen, but this is why.

I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. Enjoy

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Karakura town was a relatively quiet place. Not much happened except for the occasional unexplained explosion. At this particular moment however, the world invisible to most was alert and waiting. Rukia and Renji had immediately told their respective captains of the deal they made with Ichigo, neither sure if it was the best choice, though it had seemed like the only one at the time. On top of that, the higher ups of Soul Society had decided to put aside their objections to the former Twelfth Division captain, Kisuke Urahara, in favor of gaining his power and knowledge in the upcoming war. Of course none of them knew that Urahara was already on Team Aizen, chalking up his confident prediction of the war being in the coming winter to his brilliant mind. It also seemed no one minded that tailing Urahara like a shadow was a talking black cat with a reiatsu suspiciously similar to that of the previous Second Division captain.

With the new information and 'allies', the Soul Society decided the best course of action would be to send a team of skilled Shinigami to Karakura town to back up the ones already their. Unfortunately, it was impossible to find strong Shinigami that actually knew the meaning of the words 'inconspicuous' and blend in', so they in edition to Rukia and Renji (who was already attention drawing enough), they sent the Eleventh Division third and fifth seats, Ikkaku Madarame (who refused to go anywhere without at least a wooden sword) and Yumichika Ayasegawa (who's flamboyant personality could be spotted a mile away). The only other two to accompany the Eleventh Division members were the Tenth Division captain and lieutenant, Toshiro Hitsugaya (who looked like an elementary school kid) and Rangiku Matsumoto (who seemed to know nothing of modesty) respectively.

All in all, the four were a motley group impossible not to notice, especially since they all ended up in the same school in the same year in the same class. Rukia had ranted for several hours at that, there appearance poorly planned though much appreciated. Toshiro and Rangiku had ended up staying at Orihime's while Ikkaku and Yumichika chose to be secretly homeless, spending their free time making conspiracies about onigiri packaging.

When they'd first arrived, they'd predictably been suspicious around Ichigo, but due to the neutral ground agreement the Head Captain had surprisingly agreed to, there was nothing they could do but except it. in the few conversations they had with the orangette, he had given them subtle hints of what Aizen was planning, but kept it vague enough to be frustrating and less than helpful. Much to the frustration of some of the Shinigami (mostly Toshiro), Ichigo seemed impossible not to like, and before any of them knew, they could almost consider each other friends. Then there was the reminder that Ichigo was on the opposite side of a war.

It came in the form of an extremely tense Ichigo. Thankfully, it was Friday, meaning no one would have to come up with weird excuses if anything happened. Renji and Rukia kept pressing him for an explanation throughout the day, despite his unwillingness to speak. Even with Ichigo's silence, what was coming soon was already obvious, but no one could figure out exactly what was coming without Ichigo telling them, and so his anxiety rubbed off on the members of the Karakura Team.

They got their answer on Saturday. Everyone was enjoying the decent weather to the best of their abilities, but was suddenly interrupted by the distinct feel of Hollow reiatsu. It was trying to suppress its reiatsu, but much to the dismay of many, there was just so much of it, some still managed to leak out into the open air.

Rukia and Renji were the first on the scene, arriving just in time to see a dark rip appear in the sky and spit out the three beings that had been emitting the Hollow's reiatsu. Toshiro and Rangiku appeared not long after, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Chad, and Orihime not far behind. Uryu still had problems with his father on the subject of Shinigami and had informed them before hand he may not be able to help. From how tense Ichigo had been the day before, this attack wasn't exactly unexpected. What was surprising, however, were how humanoid the three Hollows looked. Aizen wasn't supposed to be able to make complete Arrancar until winter.

That considered, imagine the shock when _three _completed Arrancar of immense power stepped through the Garganta. They were all dressed in white, as to be expected, but what really caught everyone's attention (besides the reiatsu) was the brightly colored hair on two of them and the pitch black, raven hair on the other. Did all people from Hueco Mundo have to have such obnoxiously colored hair?

With everyone of importance gathered, none but the smaller, raven haired Arrancar bothered to hold back their reiatsu, letting it lash free, in suffocating waves. None of them were even serious yet.

The one with chin length pink hair and a light smirk that faintly resembled Urahara's scientist smile stepped forward first, looking over the tensed forms below evenly and calmly. "Well, if this is all the Gotei 13 is capable of Aizen-sama shouldn't have any trouble reaching his goal."

That seemed to break the ice, Toshiro acting his part as leader to address the Arrancar as a group. "What are you doing, Aizen wasn't supposed to be able to make completed Arrancar until winter?" His question was angry, though most of the venom the Tenth Division captain had managed to seal behind a wall of ice.

"Looks like whoever gave you that information fucked up," the answer to the young white haired captain's rhetorical question came from the insanely grinning form of the blue haired one, his short, choppy hair, and angular features giving it an even more feral appearance, especially with the partial jaw bone stuck to his right cheek. "Why don't we test out exactly how accurate that information was."

The pink haired one turned back to him with a disapproving frown, though his eyes shined with humor, "Now Grimmjow, we're just here to check out the competition. Aizen-sama told us to refrain from any serious fighting, remember?"

The newly named Grimmjow responded with an annoyed 'che' and retorted, "How are we supposed to do that if we can't fight them? Besides, Aizen isn't here right now and it's not like anyone but stick up the ass Ulquiorra would bitch about it." He looked over at the smaller Arrancar with straight black hair, half covered by his mask remnant. "Would you snitch, Ulquiorra?"

The insult earlier would have gotten to anyone else, but since it was Ulquiorra, he merely brushed it off before answering Grimmjow with his usual emotionless tone, "Our orders were to simply gather as much information as possible without causing too much damage. I couldn't care less what you do, just don't break anything you can't repair."

With a slight widening of his smirk, Grimmjow was on Toshiro in an instant, having gone for the strongest opponent there. Szayel rolled his eyes at the Septima's blood lust, easily fending off an attack from Ikkaku. Yumichika chose not to pick an opponent, letting Rukia, Renji and Rangiku handle the green eyed Arrancar, knowing Ikkaku wouldn't want anything other than a one on one fight. Much to their relief, Chad and Orihime were left on the sidelines, neither one big on fighting, though would do so if needed.

To say Toshiro's fight was going poorly would have been a bit of an understatement. While the three had been bickering, the young prodigy had informed the Soul Society of their situation, hoping to get a limit release before they were beaten miserably. He had a feeling they would need it against these Arrancar. It wasn't long after before Toshiro was forced to release his shikai, though the Arrancar only seemed to grow more excited and bloodthirsty at the sight of Hyorinmaru's power.

There was finally a break in the fighting after what seemed like ages. Toshiro was breathing heavily, and while he hadn't sustained any especially terrible wounds, he couldn't last much longer like this. So he did the only logical thing; stall. "Who are you?"

Grimmjow had stopped at that point as well, the kid was stronger than he'd originally anticipated, but that was one of the many reasons the Septima enjoyed fighting. He smirked, using the opportunity to rest to his advantage, "Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, Septima Espada."

"You have a numbering order?" This was going better than the prodigy hoped for, really, was Aizen _trying _to give them an advantage?

"Every Arrancar from eleven to ninety nine is ordered by age, but the ten strongest are given a number one through ten and a tattoo of it somewhere on their body to signify their position as Espada, the strongest in Aizen-sama's army. Each Espada's power level is comparable to that of a Shinigami captain, if not higher."

If anything that just proved how bad Toshiro's situation was. He was struggling, albeit with a limiter, but struggling still against the seventh strongest Arrancar in Aizen's army, what was he going to do when faced with anyone placed six or above, especially since Grimmjow hadn't even released yet. According to Urahara every Arrancar should have a Resurreccion, meaning his opponent could get even stronger. It wasn't long before Grimmjow decided he'd rested enough, and the battle picked back up.

The battle with the black haired, green eyed Arrancar wasn't going any better, probably even worse. Now matter what angle they came at him from or what kind of strategy they came up with the three could never manage to hit him. It never even looked like he moved and when he did it was a minute shift to avoid a blow just barely. What was even scarier was that none were sure whether it would actually do anything even if one of their attacks did manage to hit him.

"Who are you?" Rukia gasped out when they finally figured he wouldn't attack them.

He remained as expressionless as before, his voice a monotone when he answered, "I am Ulquiorra Cifer, Tercera Espada."

All stilled at that. There may have been some distance for fighting, but not so much that they couldn't catch bits and pieces of Toshiro's conversation with Grimmjow. If their captain was having problems with the Septima, it was no wonder they couldn't even touch the Tercera, Ulquiorra, as he'd so kindly supplied them with.

Rangiku, completely serious in a fight, asked, "Are you just going to stand there the entire time, or are you actually going to fight?"

He glanced down at her from where he stood slightly above them, "We're here to gather information, I couldn't care less what you choose to do; I just have supervise the trash."

"I resent that," the pink haired one with glasses for his bone fragment called over to Ulquiorra. Grimmjow just brushed it off, having too much fun with his opponent to care for Ulquiorra's habit of referring to everyone weaker than him as trash, besides, he'd find a way to get back at him later.

There was nothing Rangiku, Rukia, and Renji could do to touch Ulquiorra even together, and so their fight ended rather lamely since the depressed looking Arrancar with half a helmet for a mask fragment didn't seem as interested in killing them as the other two did. Speaking of the others, the pink haired one was taking a very hands off approach to Ikkaku's attacks. He hadn't actually gone for any real blows, but did seem more interested in his fight than Ulquiorra had been with his.

Szayel was actually attempting to complete the mission. Ulquiorra could tell Aizen how many there were and how powerful they were and all the other technicalities, but only Szayel could get the touchy stuff no one else would even think to look for, much less know how to obtain. It was good that the Shinigami mindlessly hacking at him didn't even notice the reishi probes taking notes on his reiatsu level, the limits of his shikai, and even picking up how strong his Bankai was if he even had one. The data would also provide a good estimation of when his opponent should achieve Bankai if he didn't have one. The pink haired Octava was nothing if not thorough.

Eventually, the inevitable happened and Szayel decided he'd collected enough information on the Shinigami present. Before he finally started fighting seriously, he announced to the world, "I am Szayelaporro Granz, Octava Espada." And he went in for his first offensive attack. Rukia knew that name, it was one Ichigo had spoken several days ago. It seemed at least some of what the orangette had spoken could be trusted.

Meanwhile, Toshiro, who was even more beat up than before was surprisingly not in an absolutely horrible mood. Though Grimmjow hadn't sustained as much damage as he'd hoped for, he'd just received the go ahead for the limit release from Soul Society. "Matsumoto, Abarai, Kuchiki, release your limits!"

"Limit?" Grimmjow asked. "Why would you purposefully make yourself weaker?" It would have deterred most others, except Grimmjow was not most others and simply grinned a little wider at the thought of fighting an even stronger opponent.

The silver haired prodigy eyed Grimmjow suspiciously before cautiously answering, "In order to reduce damage to the material world to a minimum, all Shinigami lieutenant class and higher are required to wear a limiter so they don't destroy the World of the Living. It severely reduces our power even more than the Living World normally would, but in special circumstances such as this, we acquire permission to release the limit."

Again, his grin widened just a smidge (it looked like it was reaching a breaking point) and the Septima goaded cockily, "Well lets see it them. Prove to me your worth killing."

Simultaneously, the three lieutenants and one captain cried, "Limit release!" and in a pillar of energy and reiatsu, the four emerged looking no different from before, but with a distinctly more confident and powerful feel to their reiatsu. Toshiro resumed his attack on Grimmjow, and the three lieutenants, studiously ignoring Ulquiorra, turned to attack Szayelaporro who had just finished with Ikkaku, the third seat now being treated by Orihime with a concerned (though he'd never admit it) Yumichika fluttering around. The fight had started again, this time at everyone's best, there would be no holding back.

In Hueco Mundo, the various members of the Espada were busy doing whatever it is Espada do in their free time with the very noticeable exception of Ichigo. The orangette was currently out hunting the sand for one specific Hollow Aizen had impressed upon him was of the utmost importance to his plan. While he never minded running errands, it was becoming increasingly frustrating to find one Gillian class Hollow amidst the thousands that all looked exactly the same to him. It was better than looking for a menos though, that would have been downright impossible. So he continued searching, asking the more intelligent Hollows if they'd ever seen or even heard of a two headed Gillian. After several hours of this he was about ready to give up. It was like he'd found every Hollow in the forest _except _the one he'd been looking for. What did he do to deserve such a tedious task that had him more likely to Cero the head off of the Hollow he'd been looking for rather than actually bring him back to Las Noches?

He didn't exactly know the answer to that, but of course it was only _after _he'd given up hope of ever finding the desired that a few timid Gillian finally worked up the nerve to approach him and push forward what looked like their spokes person. Though from the way it was trembling and the fear evident in its reiatsu, you'd think they were putting forth a sacrifice. But then again, maybe they were.

Ichigo just looked up uninterestedly, figuring if they were going to tell him something scaring them into silence wouldn't do any good. "W-w-we k-know of the H-Hollow you're looking for."

His gold on black eyes widened behind his mask. "Really?" Ichigo practically yelled, jumping up from where he'd been lounging against a tree trunk. The Gillian yelped and crumpled before him, oops, he'd forgotten in his excitement how frightened to weaker Hollows were of him, actually, how frightened any kind of Hollow was of him (with the exception of the Espada of course).

Clearing his throat lightly, he contained his excitement and tried to appear as calm and nonthreatening as possible, completely ignoring the fact that the way his reiatsu lashed out and his place in Aizen's army probably didn't help him any with the nonthreatening part.

"Do you know where he is now?" Ichigo asked as politely as he could manage.

The two that had hung back in fear of being eaten along with their sacrifi— ahem, spokesperson nodded hesitantly and turned to lead the orange headed Primera to a particularly large tree. As they got closer though, Ichigo noticed it wasn't just one huge tree, it was actually, several that had grown together, a large hollow space in the middle housing a slumbering two headed Hollow. Perfect, just what Ichigo was looking for.

He grinned lightly in satisfaction, but because he was wearing his Hollow mask, the pointed teeth set in the skull like design lifted upward, giving his grin a more sinister appearance. That sent the three Gillian scurrying away as fast as their underdeveloped sonido could carry them. Now all Ichigo had to do was figure out how to get him back to Las Noches without damaging him too much.

It took a while, but Ichigo finally settled on just carrying him back to the castle using sonido. If he woke up in the middle of the commute Ichigo could always just knock him out again, after all, it was only expected the Gillian be a little damaged, right? Turned out, there was no need for such concern. One of the Gillian that had showed Ichigo to the Hollow he'd been looking for had some sort of sedating ability and had put the stronger Gillian to sleep so it wouldn't move while they went to get Ichigo. Before he knew it he'd reached Las Noches and was carrying the still out cold Hollow to the throne room where Aizen was doubtless making more plans despite the fact that he already had nearly every possibility accounted and planned for.

True to his assumption, Aizen was sitting at the head of the meeting table with more sheets laid out in front of him. "Aizen-sama, you shouldn't work yourself too hard." Ichigo's greetings had never been very generic.

Aizen looked up at the sound of Ichigo's voice, his brown eyes instantly zeroing in on the unconscious Hollow slung over his Primera's shoulder. "You may leave it here. I need you to go retrieve the three I sent to the human world, they should be done by now." With new orders in mind, Ichigo wasted no time in dumping the unconscious Gillian on the floor where he stood and turning to step through a quickly constructed Garganta. Aizen in the meantime, had risen from his seat and made his way to collect the abandoned Hollow. It may have only been a Gillian, but he had been monitoring its growth for some time, the specific ability it had making it a powerful addition to his growing army.

The Shinigami Grimmjow had been fighting was interesting for a while, but his fight was starting to get boring. When the kid released his limit the Septima Espada thought he may actually become an opponent worthy of killing, especially when the kid pulled a Bankai. The fight had escalated quickly, the captain's sword manifesting itself in the form of ice dragon wings and a tail with three, four petal flowers trailing after him. Grimmjow had no idea what the flowers were for, but his opponent definitely had an interesting Bankai. The battle had continued back and forth after that, more heated than before but in Grimmjow's opinion still lacking. He hadn't even released yet and the kid was using his Bankai.

"This is getting boring," he declared in a moment of finality, stepping up his sonido as fast as he could get it to appear in front of Toshiro and make to slice him in half with his unreleased Zanpakuto.

The kid froze, eyes widening and then shutting tightly closed, waiting for the inevitable impact that would end his life prematurely. It took a few moments before he figured out he wasn't actually going to get hit. Toshiro's wide green eyes peaked open, silently scolding himself for showing such fear to the enemy in the first place. What fell within his line of sight, and that of everyone else on the battle field, was a shock in and of itself. Ichigo Kurosaki, easily recognizable by the spiky orange hair, had appeared seemingly out of no where to block the attack with nothing but his black Shihakusho clothed fore arm.

"Sorry to ruin your fun Grimm," he started with a lightly amused smirk, "but we're needed back at Las Noches."

Upon hearing that, the panther Hollow scowled in frustration. "Can't I finish my fight first, I'm almost done?"

Ichigo's smile turned apologetic, like he really was sorry he'd just saved Toshiro from death. That probably wasn't the intended meaning, but in his embittered state, the Tenth Division captain couldn't help but feel resentful. "As much as I'd love to let you kill my classmates, we need to go now." The tone of his voice implied sarcasm, but his facial features did nothing to give away his meaning.

The blue haired Septima sheathed his sword with much reluctance and a bit of grumbling, disappointed but not willing to incur both Ichigo and Aizen's wrath. Ichigo herded Grimmjow to the Garganta Ulquiorra had already constructed, shooting a glance at Szayel that clearly said "disobey me and die". Once the two remaining Arrancar stepped through the Garganta, Ichigo turned back with a slightly goofy and, considering the situation, inappropriately cheerful grin to say, "See you guys on Monday."

He disappeared after that, the Garganta closing seamlessly behind him, leaving several very confused and shocked Shinigami plus two what was wrong with that boys head. Why the hell did he think he was still going to school with them? And since it seemed he truly believed that would be the case, what did he think the meaning of war meant if what had just happened wasn't enough to break the neutral ground pact?

Ichigo was in a surprisingly upbeat mood when they four exited the portal between worlds into Aizen's throne room. If the others hadn't already been edgy, this definitely made them so.

"Ichigo," Starrk asked from where he was sitting, "what's got you in such a chipper mood?"

"Oh, nothing. I can't just be in a good mood?" His response did nothing to ease the discomfort lingering in the air, especially when Gin failed to hide his snicker of amusement.

Starrk shrugged, the strangeness not bothering him as much as it did some of the others. They'd all been called to the throne room just a few moments ago and had been waiting as patiently as they could until Ichigo had entered with Grimmjow, Ulquiorra, and Szayel. The waiting continued after that, Starrk dosing and the others in various states of impatience.

When Aizen did appear, he was carrying the recently recovered Hogyoku in one hand and dragging a vehemently struggling Gillian class Hollow behind him with the other. The two headed Hollow was dumped unceremoniously in the center of the room, the various Espada, Gin, and Lilynette watching with varying levels of interest, all certain of what was going to happen next.

True to prediction, Aizen held the Hogyoku out in front of him, the power and energy rolling off of it to fulfill the wish of its master nearly stifling to every being in the room, no matter how strong. The being that power was directed toward screeched something awful and began to writhe in its pain as change swept through its very soul. Its body began to contort horribly, becoming more human in shape. A completely human body was not to be however, the Gillian class is almost never granted a completely human form. Instead, what rose as a newly created Arrancar was mostly what was expected. The body was human for the most part, better than what most Gillian are stuck with, the only exception the expected Hollow hole on his left thigh. It was his head that really threw the whole appearance off. He'd had two heads as a regular Hollow, but his face was hidden behind an elongated white mask he'd seemingly procured out of nowhere. It covered the long, oval shaped head, efficiently blocking anything that might have been beneath.

"What is your name?" Aizen asked the newly developed Arrancar, as he did with all the new recruits.

"I am called, Aaroniero Arruruerie." His voice was deep, much more so than most, but there was an underlying, almost undetectable higher pitch to it as well. Something the new Arrancar was trying desperately not to reveal. It was light, and so the gathered chose to ignore it for now.

"Welcome Aaroniero, the new Novena Espada."

That made a lot of sense actually. Normally, Aizen wouldn't bother gathering all of them just for the birth of an Arrancar, so for that to be the case for this particular one had set in the minds of many that he was to be special in some way. No one questioned Aizen's choice, despite the new Novena being a Gillian class Hollow, there was more than likely something that made him stand out.

"Ichigo, would you be so kind as to get your new comrade his uniform and explain his position?"

"No problem," the orangette agreed almost instantly, his good mood lasting through the transformation.

Ichigo took the incredibly confused Arrancar through the halls of Las Noches as quickly as possible, determined to at least find him a suitable uniform. Unfortunately, Las Noches was big, even if they were using sonido, and the newly dubbed Aaroniero inevitably asked questions. The first of which was one Ichigo had been expecting, though perhaps not as the first one.

"Are you a Shinigami, you have a white uniform but no Hollow mask?"

"No, not technically," the orangette answered truthfully. Might as well get the question of exactly what he was out of the way first. "I have Shinigami blood, but I'm also part Hollow, making me a Visored. I have a mask but can choose whether or not it manifests itself."

The Novena nodded in acknowledgement, promising himself a deeper look into that later. For the time being however, he was determined to get answers to his other questions.

"What does being the Novena mean? I understand it's some kind of rank, but what am I required to do as such?"

Ichigo glanced back at Aaroniero's masked face, "We'll go over that once you get a uniform. It's not really a uniform though. The only requirement to what you want is that it has to be white, so feel free to change the style anyway you want."

The two had arrived at the Novena's room not long after, a Numeros still scurrying around inside trying to make sure everything was as it should be.

"Have fun," was all Ichigo said before shoving Aaroniero through the open doorway and leaving him and the Numeros to come up with a uniform design. With his duties successfully put off for the moment, Ichigo went to go see if Gin and Szayel were too busy to spend time with him.

Several hours later, Ichigo found himself back in front of the Novena's room impatiently awaiting his charges appearance. Gin had been busy with Aizen, but Szayel had fortunately for the orangette been bored out of his mind, making him more than willing to accommodate Ichigo's playful nature. After a while, the two had finally decided Ichigo should get back to his original job and was left to make his way back to the Espada living quarters.

Moments later, Aaroniero exited his room in a long, dress like cloak that stopped just above his ankles. Besides the black boots he now donned, he also had a frilly noble's cloak that flared out at the collar and sleeve ends.

"It suits you," was the only compliment Ichigo gave before they were back to wandering the white halls of Las Noches. "So, there are ten Espada in total, or rather, there are supposed to be. Right now there are only nine, you making the ninth, but we're the ten strongest Arrancar in Aizen-sama's army. We report directly to Aizen-sama after each mission and the missions we get are a lot more important as well as dangerous than the ones given to the Numeros."

He paused briefly in his long winded explanation to make sure he hadn't left Aaroniero stranded in the ever changing halls of Las Noches. When he saw the Novena was not only still following him but also listening intently, he continued, "As for the Numeros, you're allowed to choose as many as you want to be your underlings, called Fraccion, or none at all. It's all up to you, and if you stick around long enough you might even meet some of the others' Fraccion." Ichigo added the last part maybe a bit to cheerfully for the content, like he wasn't so casually speaking of a comrade's mysterious disappearance.

"So, now that that's out of the way, can I ask you a few questions?"

Aaroniero nodded hesitantly, he had a sneaking feeling he knew where this conversation was headed.

"Why do you wear that face plate? Is it a part of your body or would you rather people not see your face? I won't laugh, no matter what the answer is, so don't be so tense."

"I would rather not say." The conversation had gone exactly where he had predicted it to. Despite Ichigo's words, he'd had too many unpleasant experiences with other Hollows not beating up on him because of his two heads. Aaroniero had a chance to restart here as the Novena Espada, a position that seemed to put him above most. He refused to ruin his fresh start with something so easily avoidable.

Thankfully, the orangette let it drop. Due to all the commotion from before, the Novena hadn't noticed, but the person showing him around had never really introduced himself. That man, Aizen, had called him Ichigo, but there had been no greeting from the orangette himself.

"I didn't get a chance to ask earlier, but who are you?"

The boy stopped, turning around to face him fully with a small smirk on his lips. "Ichigo Kurosaki," he started. Tilting his head to the side slightly, he pulled back the collar of his jacket to reveal the gothic one printed there. "Primera Espada."

Life was certainly going to be interesting from now on.

* * *

Silver: Hehe, I finally wrote something over 5000 words. Somehow, I'm proud of myself even though it's not that much of an accomplishment. But anyway, I still need a Decima and no, Aaroniero will not be completely useless.

Pansy: How are you going to keep making your chapters longer and longer like you have been?

Silver: I'm, I'm going to, to... T.T Why do you do this to me!?

Pansy: Someone needs to make sure you're not getting in over your head. Anyway, review, comment, point out inconsistencies, and pray Silver won't burn her brain out thinking too hard on the next chapter.

Silver: Hey!


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